“One of the four most important works of twentieth century literature”
VLADIMIR NABOKOV
"The one novel that sums up the whole of Russia"
ANTHONY BURGESS
"The most important, most influential, and most perfectly realized Russian novel written in the 20th century"
"The most important, most influential, and most perfectly realized Russian novel written in the 20th century"
The New York Times Book Review
"A man of strange unheard-of insights- magical and a holy fool in the tradition of Russian Orthodoxy"
"A man of strange unheard-of insights- magical and a holy fool in the tradition of Russian Orthodoxy"
ISAIAH BERLIN
ABOUT THE BOOK
Petersburg is a story of family dysfunction, parricide, political terror, conspiracy and murder, but it also points to apocalypse and redemption. The world of history - the revolution of 1905 - and the world of myth - in the figure of Saturn, who devours his children and in turn is devoured by them - are intertwined. Russia is torn apart by the conflict between revolutions and reaction, at the level of myth, these opposites are indistinguishable. The Ableukhovs, father and son, embody this conflict, but are scions of the same Mongol lineage. The city itself if the ‘child’ of its autocratic founder, Peter the Great, who maintains his power over it through the agency of his statue, the Bronze Horseman.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andrey Bely, the pseudonym of Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, was born in 1880 into a prominent intellectual family. The duality which suffuses much of Bely’s work perhaps began in his childhood. His father, Nikolai Vasilevich Bugaev, a wellknown mathematician was firmly committed to the natural sciences, while Bely’s mother insisted on a dedication to the arts. Bely’s writing influenced several literary schools, in particular Symbolism. His far reaching literary voice has influenced Russia authors - and musicians - up to the present day. His influence is often compared to that of James Joyce in the English speaking world. Bely died on the first of August 1934. In the Autumn of 2000, Bely’s apartment at 55 Arbat in Moscow was opened as a public museum.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
John Elsworth, the translator of this edition, is Professor Emeritus of the University of Manchester. Before moving to Manchester in 1987 he taught at the University of East Anglia and held visiting posts in Virginia and California. His work includes books and articles about Andrey Bely, as well as a translation of Bely’s first novel The Silver Dove (Angel Books, 2000).
New Translation by JOHN ELSWORTH
ABOUT THE BOOK
Petersburg is a story of family dysfunction, parricide, political terror, conspiracy and murder, but it also points to apocalypse and redemption. The world of history - the revolution of 1905 - and the world of myth - in the figure of Saturn, who devours his children and in turn is devoured by them - are intertwined. Russia is torn apart by the conflict between revolutions and reaction, at the level of myth, these opposites are indistinguishable. The Ableukhovs, father and son, embody this conflict, but are scions of the same Mongol lineage. The city itself if the ‘child’ of its autocratic founder, Peter the Great, who maintains his power over it through the agency of his statue, the Bronze Horseman.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andrey Bely, the pseudonym of Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, was born in 1880 into a prominent intellectual family. The duality which suffuses much of Bely’s work perhaps began in his childhood. His father, Nikolai Vasilevich Bugaev, a wellknown mathematician was firmly committed to the natural sciences, while Bely’s mother insisted on a dedication to the arts. Bely’s writing influenced several literary schools, in particular Symbolism. His far reaching literary voice has influenced Russia authors - and musicians - up to the present day. His influence is often compared to that of James Joyce in the English speaking world. Bely died on the first of August 1934. In the Autumn of 2000, Bely’s apartment at 55 Arbat in Moscow was opened as a public museum.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
John Elsworth, the translator of this edition, is Professor Emeritus of the University of Manchester. Before moving to Manchester in 1987 he taught at the University of East Anglia and held visiting posts in Virginia and California. His work includes books and articles about Andrey Bely, as well as a translation of Bely’s first novel The Silver Dove (Angel Books, 2000).
New Translation by JOHN ELSWORTH
ISBN 978 1 901285 96 3
