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A review by joecam79
Sentimental Tales by Mikhail Zoščenko
4.0
I must admit that I had never heard of Soviet writer Mikhail Zoshchenko (1894-1958) prior to coming across this book on NetGalley. I may be forgiven for this, given the dearth of translation of his works into English. It turns out that Zoshchenko’s short stories made him very popular with the public in the 1920s, but their peculiar brand of humour rendered their politics too ambiguous for the tastes of the regime. He weathered the frowns of the authorities for several years until he was expelled from the Soviet Writers’ Union in 1946 – a blow to his reputation and his health.
Mikhail Zoshchenko’s Sentimental Tales resorts to a technique which had been used by other Russian authors, including Gogol and Pushkin in works such as [b:Tales of Belkin|6697972|Tales of Belkin|Alexander Pushkin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320559853s/6697972.jpg|50747166] and "A History of the Village of Goryukhino”. In a meta-fictional approach which seems to foreshadow postmodern techniques, the stories are allegedly written by one Kolenkorov, a mediocre writer who strives, with limited success, to conform to the ideals of a “model Soviet artist”. As a result, the narration is deliberately clunky, replete with irrelevant details, overblown metaphors and inconsequential asides. This provides much of the humour, but it also serves as a cover for Zoshchenko. Melodramatic tales of tragic, unrequited love – which otherwise might have been considered too “sentimental” – are camouflaged by this comedic approach. More importantly, the farcical elements allow Zoshchenko to get away with biting social satire.
Such works need a sensitive translator to do them justice – hats off to Boris Dralyuk (who has already shown his mettle in other challenging translations for Penguin, Maclehouse Press and Pushkin Press amongst others). He manages to transpose the particular wit of Zoshchenko into English, making it accessible to us despite the differences in language and culture.
Mikhail Zoshchenko’s Sentimental Tales resorts to a technique which had been used by other Russian authors, including Gogol and Pushkin in works such as [b:Tales of Belkin|6697972|Tales of Belkin|Alexander Pushkin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320559853s/6697972.jpg|50747166] and "A History of the Village of Goryukhino”. In a meta-fictional approach which seems to foreshadow postmodern techniques, the stories are allegedly written by one Kolenkorov, a mediocre writer who strives, with limited success, to conform to the ideals of a “model Soviet artist”. As a result, the narration is deliberately clunky, replete with irrelevant details, overblown metaphors and inconsequential asides. This provides much of the humour, but it also serves as a cover for Zoshchenko. Melodramatic tales of tragic, unrequited love – which otherwise might have been considered too “sentimental” – are camouflaged by this comedic approach. More importantly, the farcical elements allow Zoshchenko to get away with biting social satire.
Such works need a sensitive translator to do them justice – hats off to Boris Dralyuk (who has already shown his mettle in other challenging translations for Penguin, Maclehouse Press and Pushkin Press amongst others). He manages to transpose the particular wit of Zoshchenko into English, making it accessible to us despite the differences in language and culture.