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Title: Petersburg by Andrei Bely ISBN: 0-253-20219-1 Publisher: Indiana University Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 1979 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (10 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Between Banality and Chaos
Comment: I cannot subscribe to the notion that this is one of the best novels of the 20th century. Without the 62 pages of notes, it would be at best baffling, at worst incomprehensible to anyone not well-versed in Russian history and literature. The plot is wildly convoluted, often farcical. The prose occasionally soars, then veers off into baroque excess, then falls flat on its face.
The translators tackled a daunting task rendering puns, word play and obscure allusions into intelligible English while tracking down all the factual information necessary to an understanding of the novel.
Paging back and forth constantly between the text, the notes, and the city map of Petersburg, I nevertheless gained a vivid impression of the political and social ferment in Petersburg at the time of the 1905 Revolution. There are some familiar archetypes: the bureaucratic despot of a father and the outwardly pliant, secretly rebellious, neurasthenic son; the bored society matron who seeks excitement in the company of anarchists; the confused "upstart intellectual" nurtured on Marx and Nietzsche, yearning to align himself with some "great cause". (Interestingly, the revolutionaries and potential terrorists in this setting are often the sons of priests - another familiar pattern).
Under the weight of current events, I welcome any device that offers a glimpse into the minds of terrorists, apostate religious leaders, fanatic cult followers and manipulators of public opinion ( the way DeLillo's Mao II does in a different context). In this respect, "Petersburg" provides some valuable insights.
Rating: 5
Summary: Wonderful. The best novel I have read. Period.
Comment: A strangly comical story about the chaos and absurdity of Russian life and politics circa 1905. It tells the story of a Russian family at odds with itself. The main characters are an aristocratic father, his politically rebellious son, the estranged wife, a back-stabbing political party, the "Red Domino", and a ticking bomb....!!! Warning: The prose is somewhat a slow read as it takes time to get used to the Symbolists style of writing. If you can get through the first 30 pages you won't regret it. This book has not been called the best Novel of the 20th century for nothing !!!
Rating: 5
Summary: A masterpiece.
Comment: One of the great modern novels, as revolutionary in its way as Ulysses or At Swim Two Birds, it dazzles with humor, allusion, wit, imagery...It's a distinct advantage to know a bit about Russian culture and to have visited the city of the title.
Having read the original prior to reading this translation, I feel this book lends itself poorly to translation; the translators do a decent job but the nature and essence of Bely's art is quite inextricable from the Russian language; still, a glimpse of the quality of the original can be had.
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Title: The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, Diana Burgin, Katherine Tiernan O'Connor, Diana Lewis Burgin ISBN: 0679760806 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 March, 1996 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, Mirra Ginsburg ISBN: 0380633132 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 03 August, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Moscow to the End of the Line by Venedikt Erofeev, H. William Tjalsma ISBN: 0810112000 Publisher: Northwestern Publishing House Pub. Date: 01 September, 1994 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: The Man With the Black Coat: Russia's Literature of the Absurd by Daniil Kharms, Alexander Vvedensky, George Gibian ISBN: 0810115735 Publisher: Northwestern Publishing House Pub. Date: 01 September, 1997 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: Envy by Iurii Karlovich Olesha, Marian Schwartz, Yuri Olesha ISBN: 1590170865 Publisher: New York Review of Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 2004 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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