Synopsis
This famous novel, first published in 1863, became the bible for women in Russia in the second half of the last century, when they flocked to the cities to find work, independence and happiness. Vera Pavlovna is a heroine who can no more deny her need for love than her need for work. Her attempts to find satisfying sexual relationships and to organise new collective ways of working were an inspiration to all those unmarried daughters who, like her, were thrown out into the world, expected either to find a rich husband or support themselves. Her dreams of work and freedom, love and pleasure had an enormous influence too on later revolutionaries like Kollontai and Lenin, and throughout its history this funny, hopeful, sensual novel has been an example of how fiction can change people's lives. In this new edition, the more visionary and erotic passages omitted from the original English translation have been restored.
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Review
"In the Russian revolutionary movement, no literary work can compare in importance with Chernyshevsky's What Is to Be Done? . . . Katz and Wagner have provided us with a version that is worthy of the novel's importance. Katz's translation is faithful to the original, yet cast in words that bring Chernyshevsky's meaning alive to modern readers. . . .Wagner, in turn, provides abundant notes, explaining obscure references, making connections between parts of the novel that could easily be missed on first reading, and alerting the reader to those many passages where Chernyshevksy hinted at what he could not say outright." William F. Woehrlin, Russian History 16, 1989"
"In the Russian revolutionary movement, no literary work can compare in importance with Chernyshevsky's What Is to Be Done? . . . . Katz and Wagner have provided us with a version that is worthy of the novel's importance. Katz's translation is faithful to the original, yet cast in words that bring Chernyshevsky's meaning alive to modern readers. . . . Wagner, in turn, provides abundant notes, explaining obscure references, making connections between parts of the novel that could easily be missed on first reading, and alerting the reader to those many passages where Chernyshevksy hinted at what he could not say outright." Russian History"
"In the Russian revolutionary movement, no literary work can compare in importance with Chernyshevsky's What Is to Be Done? . . . . Katz and Wagner have provided us with a version that is worthy of the novel's importance. Katz's translation is faithful to the original, yet cast in words that bring Chernyshevsky's meaning alive to modern readers. . . . Wagner, in turn, provides abundant notes, explaining obscure references, making connections between parts of the novel that could easily be missed on first reading, and alerting the reader to those many passages where Chernyshevksy hinted at what he could not say outright." Russian History"
"In the Russian revolutionary movement, no literary work can compare in importance with Chernyshevsky's What Is to Be Done? . . . . Katz and Wagner have provided us with a version that is worthy of the novel's importance. Katz's translation is faithful to the original, yet cast in words that bring Chernyshevsky's meaning alive to modern readers. . . . Wagner, in turn, provides abundant notes, explaining obscure references, making connections between parts of the novel that could easily be missed on first reading, and alerting the reader to those many passages where Chernyshevksy hinted at what he could not say outright."--Russian History
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