Sofia Petrovna (European Classics) [Paperback]

Lydia Chukovskaya (Author), Aline Werth (Translator)

Book Description

Series: European Classics | Publication Date: June 8, 1994

An account of the life of a young widow during the Stalinistic purges of the 1930s. After the arrest of her son, she loses her job and as malnutrition takes over she retreats into a lonely fantasy world. A version of this book was published in 1967 entitled "The Deserted House".

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Sofia Petrovna is an unusual book - one of the few novels about Stalin's purges written soon after they occurred. It was almost published in the Soviet Union in 1963, but, after receiving sixty percent of her royalty advance, Lydia Chukovskaya was told that the work contained "ideological distortion" and would not go to press. In response, she sued for the rest of her advance - and won. Two years later, the work was published in Paris. The novel opens with Sofia Petrovna, a mother who has recently discovered the joys of a paying job as a typist. Sharing her apartment with several other families or attending mandatory meetings at work - all are simply parts of her daily life as a Soviet citizen, as unquestioned and necessary as brushing one's teeth or washing dishes. When the purges begin and the director of her office is taken away, even after her own son is arrested, she tries to believe in both the government and in the innocence of people she loves. But as Sofia Petrovna stands in line after line - attempting to gain information, pass along money, plead for her son - she slowly loses her innocence and her sanity. Sofia Petrovna is not Lydia Chukovskaya, but the emotion and experience for the book came from the author's life, including the arrest and murder of her husband. In this slim novel Lydia Chukovskaya was determined to describe, through the life of an ordinary woman, "an educated society driven to loss of consciousness by lies." -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. -- From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Erica Bauermeister

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Russian

Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Northwestern University Press (June 8, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810111500
• ISBN-13: 978-0810111509
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70,154 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #55 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Russian

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chukovskaya's vision of an unmentionable time, July 3, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Sofia Petrovna (European Classics) (Paperback)

Madame Chukovskaya's Sofia Petrovna is one of the best examples of Soviet protest literature available to English readers. Her prose style, spare and direct, is marvelously fitting for this story of a Soviet everywoman's loss of faith. Because there is little introspection, the reader is forced to look deeply into why the events in the heroine's life are causing her to go mad. The reflection on the Soviet system which this creates is one of the best ways to study the period about which Chukovskaya wrote. What is particularly moving about this book is the voice Chukovskaya uses to tell her story. It is the most feminine of voices, that of a mother, whose compassion and faith in her son, while conflicting with her identity as a good Soviet citizen, are emotions with which any female reader can relate, or any parent. This short novel is often grouped with A. Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch. The relation between the two books is compelling. One presents the story of those who were senselessly condemned to the gulags; the other recounts the impact of this condemnation on the families and friends left behind. Although this book is not widely read by the American public, I think it one of the most moving stories of Soviet life in the Stalinist era. For this reason, I believe it will continue to be a classic of Soviet literature for many years to come

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars displays the terrors of the Great Purges, April 29, 2011

By 

Mark - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sofia Petrovna (European Classics) (Paperback)

Sofia Petrovna is a Russian classic in 2 separate ways. First we see the atrocities committed during the Stalinist era. During the great purges anyone believed to be a Kulak or have foreign relations were put on trial. There is one quote within the book that states something along the lines of "the government wouldn't lock up innocent people" only displaying the ignorance of the time. Sofia's son is taken away because his name is dropped within an interrogation leaving his mother distraught. We see the hardships she and other women of the time faced. The second aspect that makes this book important to read is the fact that it is written in the 30's but wasn't published until the late 70's or early 80's under Gorbachev's Glasnost. From Stalin to Chernenko, the author was incapable of getting her work published because of its criticisms of the government. From a modern perspective, Sofia gives us a good view of Russian policy from pre-WWII through the cold war era.

4.0 out of 5 stars Book Review, November 27, 2007

By 

Alexandria Shanae Bennett "Alexandria Bennett" (Greensboro, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sofia Petrovna (European Classics) (Paperback)

Sofia Petrovna is a widow with a bright son. He becomes one of the top engineers at one of the best engineering schools. Ever since the death of her husband, Sofia Petrovna has been working at an office where she is in charge of all the typist. She becomes best friends with the best typist, Natasha, and spends a lot of time with her during ovevrtime and outside of work. People soon begin to be arrested for mysterious reasons. Kolya's, Sofia Petrovna's son, best friend Alek come and informs Sofia Petrovna that Kolya was arrested. Sofia Petrovna takes time off of work and begins to spend most of her time in like at the prosecutor's office. She and all of the other women there want nothing but to know the location of their husband or son. Some of the woman who have been there longer and have already gotten the information they needed, began to take control and get everything in order. When Sofia Petrovna finally gets to see the prosecutor he tells her there isn't anything he can do because, Kolya had confessed to the being a terrorist. By this time Sofia Petrovna had already left her job, and Natasha had already been fired. One day when Sofia went to see Natasha she goes to her apartment and finds out that Natasha had committed suicide. Sofia Petrovna soon receives information that Alek has also been arrested for not saying anything about Kolya to the police. After a couple of days Sofia Petrovna finally receives a letter from Kolya telling her that an old friend from back in high school had told the police that Kolya had joined a terrorist group with him. Kolya couldn't do anything but confess, but he told his mother that he didn't join a terrorist group. Sofia Petrovna wanted to write him back, but a friend of hers told her that she shouldn't so the government wouldn't make her move and lose contact with her son.
The ending was not what I expected. I was expecting for Sofia Petrovna to die, since everything else in her life was going bad. Sofia Petrovna is a book that puts you in the moment of what is happening. While reading, I felt what Sofia Petrovna felt, which is why I expected a different ending. This book is a book that lets people know what was going on in the government in Russia during 1937 without actually putting out that it was all the government's fault. This book is a must read, especially for those who want to understand what was going on in Russia in 1937.