The best memoirs worth reading. List of authors, biographies, historical events, interesting facts and their reflection on the pages of books

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The best memoirs help us to learn better about the fate of famous personalities, how their lives developed, how certain historical events took place. Memoirs, as a rule, are written by famous people - politicians, writers, artists who want to tell in detail about the most important moments of their lives, episodes that influenced the fate of the country. List of authors whose works are presented in this article:

• Ivan Bunin;
• Evgeny Ginzburg;
• Vladimir Nabokov;
• Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov;
• Haruki Murakami;
• Georgy Zhukov;
• Salvador Dali.

Cursed days

The list of the best memoirs always includes the book by Nobel Prize winner Ivan Bunin "Cursed Days". It was written in 1918, but first saw the light only in 1926, and then abroad. On the territory of modern Russia, this besta book of memoirs by a famous novelist was published only after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

This is a deep philosophical and journalistic work in which the author analyzes in detail the important events in the history of his native country, which he himself witnessed. This is the October Revolution and the Civil War that followed it. With amazing accuracy, Bunin managed to capture on the pages of this book the experiences, worldviews and thoughts that reigned in the heads and souls of our compatriots in those years. The book is of great interest to a wide range of readers and professional historians, because the author scrupulously records all the events that took place around him.

In addition, "Cursed Days" is important for understanding Bunin's entire work, they reflect a turning point in his life when, due to events in his native country, he had to emigrate, work abroad, far from his homeland. These memoirs are based on the author's understanding of the events that took place in Moscow and Odessa in 1918-1919.

Steep route

Among the best memoirs, Evgenia Ginzburg's book "The Steep Route" is worth noting. Researchers define it as a chronicle of the cult of personality. In 1967, it was published in the USA, and it was released in the USSR only in 1988.

In the first part, Ginzburg describes the events from the moment of Kirov's assassination in 1934, and then his own arrest three years later and two years spent in solitary confinement in Yaroslavl. The second part is devoted to the transfer to a labor camp in Kolyma, and the final part to the liberation,exile to Magadan and rehabilitation in 1955.

This is a very honest and sincere book, which is why it is included among the best memoirs and memoirs.

Other Shores

The autobiographical book of another Nobel laureate Vladimir Nabokov was written in the USA in 1954.

"Other Shores" covers a long period of the author's life, starting from the first years of the 20th century and ending in May 1940, when Nabokov leaves for permanent residence from Europe to America. During these years, many events take place that determine not only his fate, but also the fate of the whole country, all of its peoples.

Among the best memoirs and biography, many single out "Other Shores", because we see the comprehension of the events through the eyes of one of their direct participants, who lost his father (his father was the leader of the cadets, who was killed during the assassination attempt), was forced leave your country forever.

One Story America

It is worth noting that among the best memoirs are not only books about one's own country, but also detailed and vivid impressions of other states. A striking example is the travel essay by Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov "One-story America". It was written as a result of their trip to the USA, it was published in the USSR in 1937.

On the pages of these memoirs, the authors tell in detail about the ordinary life of Americans, introduce Soviet people to the most famous residents of the United States at that time (Hemingway, Ford,Williams, Steffens), describe the largest cities in the United States of America that they manage to visit (New York, Kansas, Chicago, Oklahoma, New Orleans, Washington), visit even poor Mexican villages and Indian wigwams, meet migrants from Russia who left and have been living in the United States for a long time, for example, with the Molokans (they were considered heretics in the Russian Empire and contributed to their expulsion), they talk about national American sports that are surprising and unfamiliar to Soviet readers (rodeo, American football, wrestling, bullfighting), give a visual and picturesque description of the beautiful American scenery, visit the White House.

From the same book, readers will learn how filmmaking works in the world's largest film studio Hollywood, as well as about the unique invention of the Americans - the electric chair, which is used to carry out the death pen alty.

In total, Ilf and Petrov spent three and a half months in America, during which time they managed to cross it twice from one end to the other.

What I talk about when I talk about running

Japanese writer Haruki Murakami's memoir "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" is written in a very unusual form. They were released relatively recently in 2007. This is a collection of autobiographical essays in which the writer talks about his passion for long-distance running, participating in marathons and ultramarathons, comparing sports throughout the book with painstaking writing.

This book is divided intochapters in which Murakami talks about sports competitions, recalls how he himself began to play sports and write his first books, talks about a trip to Greece and participation in the famous marathon race, about exhausting training, which he compares to painstaking writing.

The book was published in Russia in 2010.

Memories and Reflections

This is the name of the best memoirs about the war, written by the legendary Marshal Zhukov, who defeated the Germans in the Great Patriotic War. In this book, he recalls his entire life in detail and tries to give it an objective assessment.

He begins with a description of his childhood, which was spent in hard peasant labor. Then in 1915 he was drafted into the army at the height of the First World War. He admits that he was not enthusiastic, because all the way to the front he constantly met crippled and wounded, injured on the front line.

Details about his participation in the Civil War. In his opinion, one of its main results was the unity of the people, the army, the leading role of the party in these matters.

A significant part of the memoirs is dedicated to the Great Patriotic War. Zhukov talks a lot about his responsibility in these years. In particular, here is a detailed chronological description of events and memories of the actions of the country's top leadership in those tragic years.

The Diary of a Genius

Many consider one of theThe best memoirs and biographies of Salvador Dali's book "The Diary of a Genius". It was published in Paris in 1964.

This is a diary that the famous artist wrote, trying to prove that even the everyday life of a genius is significantly different from what happens in the life of an ordinary person. Talking in detail about his personal life, Dali seeks to prove this, and also actively comments on the historical events that he was a direct witness of.