Petersburg - Softcover

Andrei Bely; John Elsworth (translator)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1906548439 ISBN 13: 9781906548438

Publisher: Pushkin Press, 2010

Synopsis

***WINNER of the 2012 Rossica Translation Prize***
After enlisting in a revolutionary terrorist organization, university student Nikolai Apollonovich Ableukhov is entrusted with a highly dangerous mission: to plant a bomb and assassinate a major government figure. But the real central character of the novel is the city of Petersburg at the beginning of the twentieth century, caught in the grip of political agitation and social unrest. Intertwining the worlds of history and myth, and parading a cast of unforgettable characters, Petersburg is a story of apocalypse and redemption played out through family dysfunction, conspiracy and murder.

About this title

Review:

The most important, most influential, and most perfectly realized Russian novel written in the 20th century. --The New York Times Book Review

This modernist novel, rightly regarded as one of the pinnacles of twentieth-century Russian literature, presents great challenges to the translator. With unswerving loyalty to the original, Elsworth has succeeded in capturing its idiosyncratic rhythms and elusive layers of meaning, producing a masterful translation that reads like a work of art in its own right. --2012 Rossica Prize Judges' Panel

One of the four most important works of twentieth century literature. --Vladimir Nabokov

This modernist novel, rightly regarded as one of the pinnacles of twentieth-century Russian literature, presents great challenges to the translator. With unswerving loyalty to the original, Elsworth has succeeded in capturing its idiosyncratic rhythms and elusive layers of meaning, producing a masterful translation that reads like a work of art in its own right. --2012 Rossica Prize Judges' Panel

One of the four most important works of twentieth century literature. --Vladimir Nabokov

About the Author:

Andrei Bely (whose real name was Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev), was born in 1880 into a family of illustrious intellectuals. Bely's writing heavily influenced the Russian Symbolist movement and the subsequent Modernist school - his significance in world literature is often compared to that of James Joyce. He died in Moscow in January 1934. John Elsworth is Professor Emeritus of the University of Manchester. Before moving to Manchester in 1987 he taught at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, the University of Virginia and the University of California, Berkeley. He studied Modern Languages at St John s College, Cambridge, reading German and Russian, and spent a postgraduate year at Moscow University. The work of Andrei Bely has been the principal subject of his academic publications. He is the author of a short biography of Bely, published in 1972, and a study of all his seven novels, which appeared with CUP in 1983. Besides Petersburg he has translated Belyi s first novel, The Silver Dove, which was published by Angel Books in 2000.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pushkin Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1906548439
• ISBN 13: 9781906548438
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 570