Petersburg (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) [Paperback]

Andrei Bely (Author), David McDuff (Translator, Introduction)

Book Description

Series: Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics | Publication Date: April 1, 1996

A new translation of Bely's colourful evocation of Russia's capital over a short, turbulent period in 1905. History, culture and politics are blended and juxtaposed; weather reports, current news, fashions and psychology jostle together with people from Petersburg society.

Editorial Reviews

Review

" ... a translation that captures Bely's idiosyncratic language and the rhythm of his prose, and without doing violence to English, conveys not only the literal meaning of the Russian but also its echoes and implications." The New York Review of Books "This translation of Petersburg finally makes it possible to recognize Andrei Bely's great novel of 1913 as a crucial Russian instance of European modernist fiction." Inquiry "All people who go in for the B's - Beckett, Brecht, Bunuel - better get hold of Bely. He came first, and he's still the best." Washington Post Book World " ... a jewel-cutter's showcase." Kirkus Review " ... the most important, most influential and most perfectly realized Russian novel written in the 20th century." Simon Karlinsky --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Russian

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 624 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (April 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140186964
• ISBN-13: 978-0140186963
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,409,758 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the greatest masterpieces of 20th-century prose, August 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Petersburg (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) (Paperback)

According to Vladimir Nabokov, this work rates with Joyce's Ulysses and Kafka's Transformations. I'll take this one over its competition. One of the most well-read works of Russia's Silver Age, I recommend it not only as literature but also as cultural history. PLEASE, find an edition of the Maguire and Malmstad translation, it's much more lucid. Bely is difficult enough even if you read Russian; you need all the help in translation you can get. The notes are copious but, if read attentively, help place the book in the cultural context in which it was written.

26 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth the less than ideal translation, July 25, 2005

By 

M. D. Copeland "avid opinionist" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Petersburg (Paperback)

Nabokov, the translator's introduction triumphantly proclaims, thought Petersburg one the three best books ever written, beside Joyce's Ulysses and Kafka's Metamorphosis. Nabokov, they do not emphasize quite as proudly, was also a native Russian, so he might have had this book a little easier.
Truly, this is a masterpiece, even if a little hard to translate. Imagine Ulysses, barely possible to read as it is, translated into another language, and you might come close to the difficulties in navigating through Bely's symbolist playground complete with 50+ pages of endnotes. However, unless you plan on learning Russian sometime very soon, that is no excuse for skipping this novel--certainly the lack of a successful English translation is the only thing that keeps it from joining the ranks of other great Russian novels. The fragile tale of an enchanting yet troubled city and the dancing psyches that inhabit it is well worth any difficulties in translation.

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful Play of Symbols and Desires, October 29, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Petersburg (Paperback)

Andrei Bely's "Petersburg" is rightly praised as a masterpiece. Knowing Bely's symbolist background, I had exepected the shimmering interlacing of symbols. Yet, while reading the book, I was surprised by the amount of historical and personal desire (and their intertwining) and the masterful way in which it was rendered. Linguistic experiments, grotesque, time-and-space shifts, intertextuality, metatextuality... and, yet, a fully comprehensible narrative! This novel is a true modernist diamond. The book questions what we usually perceive as the predominance of Anglomodernism - yes, the Russians were writing great things after Dostoevsky, too!