Scan barcode
A review by sarapalooza
Petersburg by Andrei Bely
4.0
Petersburg
Andrei Bely
An incredibly immersive and entertaining read. This particular translation was quite a task (enjoyable!) to dive into. The annotations and background were almost as long as the book itself, but very illuminating. There’s just so much helpful information provided!
This is a fascinating work. Imagine Joyce’s Ulysses meeting turn of the century revolution, with a heavy dollop of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Pushkin, and Gogol. It’s pretty difficult to avoid the giants of Russian lit - and why would one want to? I’m really happy I waited so late into my Russian literature journey to read this, because the background is very helpful.
The book also holds its own as a work of modernism, as it came before Joyce’s work in the genre and is groundbreaking for its time.
The work is also heavily influenced by Symbolism and anthroposophy - two realms I know little about - so the notes were very helpful!
Sadly, all of the wealth of info in the extremely detailed notes mostly served to teach me that one cannot truly appreciate this unless that person reads it in Russian, but I sure appreciated the glimpse I got.
Definitely recommend for anyone interested in this time period, modern literature generally, or those looking to expand their knowledge of Russian literature. It definitely gave me some strange dreams.
Very interested on thoughts of folks who have read this in Russian / another language and their experiences.
Andrei Bely
An incredibly immersive and entertaining read. This particular translation was quite a task (enjoyable!) to dive into. The annotations and background were almost as long as the book itself, but very illuminating. There’s just so much helpful information provided!
This is a fascinating work. Imagine Joyce’s Ulysses meeting turn of the century revolution, with a heavy dollop of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Pushkin, and Gogol. It’s pretty difficult to avoid the giants of Russian lit - and why would one want to? I’m really happy I waited so late into my Russian literature journey to read this, because the background is very helpful.
The book also holds its own as a work of modernism, as it came before Joyce’s work in the genre and is groundbreaking for its time.
The work is also heavily influenced by Symbolism and anthroposophy - two realms I know little about - so the notes were very helpful!
Sadly, all of the wealth of info in the extremely detailed notes mostly served to teach me that one cannot truly appreciate this unless that person reads it in Russian, but I sure appreciated the glimpse I got.
Definitely recommend for anyone interested in this time period, modern literature generally, or those looking to expand their knowledge of Russian literature. It definitely gave me some strange dreams.
Very interested on thoughts of folks who have read this in Russian / another language and their experiences.