The Accompanist [Paperback]

Nina Berberova (Author), Marian Schwartz (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 23, 2003 | Series: New Directions Classics

A spellbinding short novel set in post-revolutionary Russia about a young girl's jealousy.

The fifth book of Nina Berberova to be published by New Directions, The Accompanist, written in 1936, proved to be a literary phenomenon in Europe where it was first published. A spellbinding, short novel set in post-revolutionary RussiaThe Accompanist portrays with extraordinary sensitivity the entangled relationships of three intriguing characters.

Sonechka is a talented but shy young pianist hired by a beautiful soprano (Maria Nikolaevna) and her devoted, bourgeois husband. Maria is everything Sonechka is not—glamorous and flamboyant. Her voice brings with it "something immortal and indisputable, something which gives reality to the human being's dream of having wings." Doomed to live in her mentor's shadow, the young girl secretly schemes to expose the singer's infidelities. But as she awaits her chance, the diva's husband takes matters into his own hands, bringing events to a surprising resolution.

This intense and beautiful little novel was published in America almost fifty years after it was written; sadly out of print for a number of years, it is a wonderfully compelling and crucial addition to Nina Berberova's growing number of published fictional works.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Written in 1936 and published here for the first time, this slender novel is an elegant exposition of Russian temperament. The accompanist of the title is Sonechka, an 18-year-old girl, talented but impoverished and self-deprecating by reason of her lowly origin. She is abruptly lifted from her bleak life in St. Petersburg when a famous soprano, Maria Travin, employs her as a traveling companion. The ambitious singer and her successful bourgeois husband are the center of a coterie that flows with them from Moscow to Paris in 1920, and Sonechka becomes privy to their sophisticated relationships. A confidante to Maria and yet ever watchful, insecure and apart, Sonechka internalizes her distress with life in postwar Russia and harbors plans for revenge on the affluent, beautiful diva by exposing her extramarital affair. The resolution of her plan comes about in an unexpected manner, one that is entirely out of Sonechka's control but that frees her as, in a different way, it frees the implacable diva. Exquisitely spare, the first-person narrative of this novella has a subdued intensity. Russian-born Berberova lives in New Jersey, where she was professor of Russian literature at Princeton.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

A curious book, certainly one worth reading...for the richness of the language and the slim peek of a turbulent Russia. -- Wendy Zollo, Historical Novels Review, November 2003

A slight yet moving work that throbs with very real pathos. -- Kirkus Reviews, 15 May 2003

A splendid, tragically beautiful writer capable of drawing unforgettable characters...sublime. -- Los Angeles Times

The central narrative is propelled by a brand of envy and longing at once eerie and sublime....a captivating read. -- Review of Contemporary Fiction, Stacey Gottlieb, Fall 2003

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation (May 23, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811215342
• ISBN-13: 978-0811215343
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,125,216 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars flawless, compact, and disturbing novella, January 11, 2006

By 

underwater girl "underwater_girl" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Accompanist (Hardcover)

I'm disappointed that this book is out of print, as it is one of the most beautifully written and translated works I have ever read. It is a story of what people who do for other people or because of other people and the power of personality. It is also a love story, but of an unocnventional type. The narrator/protagonist is not someone that I would normally find interesting, but the author illuminates her life and gives us moments and glimpses of choices that the narrator makes wisely or unwisely and their consequences. Berberova's prose gives us insights into this character using metaphors that have an almost formal beauty and achieves that "aha" moment when the reader finally regards the item, action, or person in a never before seen way.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite, September 12, 2010

By 

Ana D. (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Accompanist (Paperback)

This is a marvelous jewel from an author I hadn't read before. It has been a delightful surprise. Exquisite prose, a thick plot despite this is a novella, complex characters. I can only describe the book's ambiance as a mixture between Romanticism and Existentialism. I will definitely look for more books by this Russian woman.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life seen from the sidelines, September 20, 2010

By 

S. Smith-Peter (Staten Island, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Accompanist (Paperback)

Here is the story of Sonechka, the accompanist of the Russian singer Maria Nicholaevna Travina, who is beautiful and loved by everyone in general and by two men in particular. Sonechka becomes Travshina's accompanist and something close to her servant and it is clear that she is living through Travina, who makes sure to prevent Sonechka from becoming close to others. Sonechka goes to Paris along with Travina's entourage, and there a tragic love triangle develops which the narrator observes with envy, desire, jealousy and love. Berberova's novels during this period are about the contrast between those people who live in the moment and are happy, like Travina, and those who observe it and are miserable, like Sonechka. Here, the Sonechka is on the outside of life and is observing it from afar. The narrative frame makes it clear that now she is really on the outside of life. The writing is clear and without self-pity or affectation and sometimes beautiful.
This is definitely worth reading.