[Eric]

Let me try to explain what I'm trying to say about Russian literature.

In Britain, we have, for a century or more, been dealing with authors, translated rather slowly into English if compared with German or French, whom you could regard as "19th century Greats". The names are all too familiar: Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Turgenev, Gogol, Goncharov, and several others. Even such a strange author as Gogol spent a good deal of time examining social matters. And all the authors pointed out the faults in Russian society.

In the 20th century, we were intrigued by the zaniness of Bulgakov and the anti-utopias of Zamyatin, but the name that dominates is Solzhenitsyn - again, a berater of ills and faults in Russia, within a historical perspective.

What I'm trying to ask is, now that Russia is again in a precarious situation, where the fork in the road could lead to democracy or dictatorship, why aren't we in Britain in the slightest bit interested in what is being written there now? Not crime novels by Georgian immigrants such as Akunin, but truly Russian writers, describing, in effect, the same territory as the 19th century Greats. Russia has undergone a huge upheaval over the past 15-20 years. There must be authors out there tackling post-Soviet Russia. But in Britain, I don't detect any enthusiasm to find who they are, have them translated, and read them.