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[–] 1 pt

Can I ask you a question about Russian books/media?

[–] 2 pts

Sure, shoot.

[–] 1 pt

So, in the West, or at least in America, Russia is famous for its literature, great writers like Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Bulgakov.

But all those great Russian writers were also miserable sacks of shit who died tragic deaths, usually in some sort of horrific despair.

Can you recommend any good Happy/Optimistic Russian writers?

Or am I asking for a product that simply does not exist?

[–] 3 pts

There are some, sure, but most that I know from the authors are more satirical than happy. Alexander Pushkin is well known for his shitposts against the government, sometimes he read them right in their faces, although his end wasn't a happy one. He's considered the main pillar of Russian writing as a whole. Korney Chukovsky is more of a children's author, but his works are great nonetheless because he was writing for adults, making sure that children could get it too. Ivan Krylov is a very prominent fabulist as well. Anton Chekhov had a lot of comedies. Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, besides their seminal work Stalker, had a lot of satirical stories. Nikolai Gogol and his The Government Inspector is rather famous as well. Among satirical works, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin stands tall. From music there's Vladimir Vysotsky, extremely famous and a big figure in Russian culture, his phrases, songs and lyrics are still being quoted to this day. He's the best known Soviet poet, and some say even a bard. And then finally from pure comedy standpoint there's Leonid Gaidai and his legendary comedy movies, very accessible and high quality, they're subbed too. The stories about him trolling and dodging soviet censors are worth a read too. That's just a few off the top of my head.