I’m most curious about the later periods of the USSR, especially 1980 on, but any period of Soviet history would interest me.
I know Jane Eyre was translated into Russian by the 1840s, for example. Would a working class (not sure if that’s the right term)/average Soviet worker have been able to read Jane Eyre or Sherlock Holmes translated into Russian if they desired to? Could they walk into a bookstore (were there bookstores?) or a library and obtained it? Would a Soviet citizen who was particularly interested in classic or foreign literature know who Oscar Wilde was? Would this look different in Moscow vs somewhere like Grozny?
I’m curious because my late parents were from the USSR and I’m curious what kind of experience they would have had with English lit.
Generally speaking, yes, classic English literature was known (almost universally it was translated, English language editions were uncommon). It did depend on the author/work though. Many classic English/foreign works were translated. Some were not. It depended a lot on whether the writing was deemed (in)compatible with Soviet ideology or sufficiently critical of the "capitalism". Generally, it was not a high bar to clear..
To give some examples:
A few writers were really in the best-seller, almost-everyone-educated-in-large-cities-have-read-them category: Conan Doyle, Jack London, Mark Twain, Herbert Wells
Many others were published but not as widely read (Oscar Wilde, O'Henry, etc)
Could they walk into a bookstore (were there bookstores?) or a library and obtained it
Yes, no, maybe.. That's where things get interesting and somewhat complicated. Books were published, often with huge runs, but were often hard to buy (yes there were bookstores, but most desirable books were hard to buy: wonders of socialist economy)...
Yes, you could go to a library (there were also "reading halls" where you could borrow/read a book but could not take it home) but even in a library it would be hit-and-miss, you might need to go to a city library rather than your local one and wait...
Would this look different in Moscow vs somewhere like Grozny?
Moscow would definitely be the best place to be as far as books were concerned: both better/more libraries and better bookstores.. The worst place would be country side/small cities: both the libraries and bookstores were far poorer with far worse selections
Foreign book options changed a lot during Soviet history: a lot less at Stalin's time, a lot more later... By far the best period was in the late 80s (just before Soviet Union collapse) when censorship basically disappeared, and free markets made publishing into a real business.