[Aliska]

I've read at least one work by many of them. Chekhov my favorite. He had such an insight into the human condition, even women. I believe he was atheist or agnostic, never married, died of TB. Tolstoy just Anna Karenina, War and Peace was too much for me. Liked Doestoevsky, only one by Solzhenitzn. Also Boris Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago.

Also loved English and French literature, occasionally others.

[GoldenState_Rose]

You’re so right about Chekhov understanding women!

And indeed I love his stuff till the endings. Probably because he was atheist.

Not saying an ending has to be “happy” for it to be Christian. Examples abound from Russian Lit. But Shakespeare’s tragedies come to mind in terms of ending “sadly” but with a Christian spirit. A sense of God and the afterlife, a final judgment — permeates his plays...

-likely why Chekhov, in his more blatant agnosticism, is considered one of the first truly modern writers.