Authors

Discussion

American literature influenced works of many Russian authors. I have to mention O.Henry, wholeft a profound imprint on all spheres Russian culture and social life; Ernest Hemingway, who shaped Russian literature and ideology and influenced Russian writer Sergey Dovlatov in particular; and D.J. Salinger who served as a model for many Russian authors, including Vasily Aksenov. 

    O.Henry was extremely popular in Russia. His heroes and images, as well as the pithy sayings from his stories, have become familiar figures in Russian cultural milieu and idiomatic expressions in Russian. Screen-writers, film directors, translators, literary critics, socialist and public activists, in the Soviet Union and later in Russia referred to works by O.Henry.
 

  In reading the novel "The Zone: Notes of a Prison Guard" by Sergei Dovlatov, the resemblance to Ernest Hemingway's works is striking, especially to his novel “In Our Time.” The comparison of these two novels shows that Hemingway's novel had a decisive influence on Dovlatov's novel. It also demonstrates that Hemingway's work penetrated Soviet and Russian literature in general.
   

   The influence of the novel The Catcher in the Rye  of J.D. Salinger on the novel A Ticket to the Stars of the Russian writer Vasily Aksyonov is obvious. The theme of Aksyonov's novel, the character of its protagonist, events and episodes depicted in it, and the writer's style - all were inspired by Salinger.