Eugene Onegin is a novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin. It is considered a classic of Russian literature, and its eponymous protagonist has served as the model for a number of Russian literary heroes (so-called superfluous men).

Only a year before his death in 1881, Dostoevsky gave his famed “Pushkin Speech” at the Pushkin Celebration of 1880. In an impassioned speech that was received with overwhelming positivity, he praised Pushkin as Russia’s national poet. A common interpretation of the speech is that it was not only about Pushkin, but about Dostoevsky himself as well. Dostoevsky made his intentions for the festival clear, writing that “I have prepared my speech about Pushkin, and precisely ...

Prose Translation of Nalacharitham Attakkatha written by Unnayi Warrier (17th/18th century). Based on the Mahabharatha, the Kathakali play tells the story of King Nala and his consort Damayanthi. The play consists of four parts – called First, Second, Third and Fourth Day – each part being long enough to be performed over a full night. Nalacharitham is considered the most romantic work of art constructed on the classical basement of Kathakali, which has earned it the epi...

Netochka Nezvanova is an unfinished novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was originally intended as a large scale work in the form of a 'confession', but a background sketch of the eponymous heroine's childhood and adolescence is all that was completed and published. Dostoevsky began work on the novel in 1848 and the first completed section was published at the end of 1849. Further work was prevented by the author's arrest and exile to a Siberian detention camp for his part in...