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The Captain
This is an exciting story of life in the Russian Navy before the Revolution. The hero, the naval rating Psaltyrev, is a most attractive character; a man of exceptional all-around ability prevented from rising out of the ranks by his humble birth. While showing how the naval training of those days smothered independent thought, the book demonstrates how even then, with a sympathetic captain, a sailor like Psaltyrev could gain immense knowledge and skill. The book contains a fund of racy, lively yarns of life both ashore and afloat, and these, together with its many vivid sketches and impressions of individual sailors and officers, make it most entertaining and absorbing reading. Alexei Novikov-Priboi was born in 1877. Novikov was conscripted when he turned twenty-two, and he became a seaman in the Baltic Fleet. After the Battle of Tsushima in the Russo-Japanese War, which began in 1904, Novikov was in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. In 1912-13 he lived on Capri as a guest of Maxim Gorky, and there he wrote many stories. He is also the author of The Sea Beckons.
Hardcover
First published December 29, 2003
3 people want to read
About the author
Alexei Novikov-Priboi
8 books1 followerAleksey Silych Novikov-Priboi (Алексей Силыч Новиков-Прибой), 12 March 1877 – 29 April 1944, was the pen-name of A. S. Novikov, an ethnic Russian writer in the Soviet Union, noted for his stories with a nautical theme.
Novikov-Priboi was the second son of a peasant family from Tambov Oblast. His mother, of Polish descent, had hoped that he would enter the church as a monk, but he was attracted to the thought of adventure by hearing stories from travelling sailors, and volunteered for the Imperial Russian Navy instead. He served as a seaman with the Russian Baltic Fleet from 1899-1906. He became involved with revolutionary activities from an early age and after publishing an article in a Kronstadt newspaper in 1903, was arrested from spreading "subversive propaganda". However, due to the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05, he was soon released, and with his records marked "unreliable" was transferred to the 2nd Pacific Squadon’s battleship Orel, on which he participated at the climatic Battle of Tsushima.
Taken as a prisoner-of-war by the Japanese, while in prison camp he began gathering stories from fellow survivors. After the war, he returned to his home town and began writing, and his first works describing the war in highly critical terms were published in 1906. However, he soon fell afoul with the tsarist authorities who banned his works, and Novikov-Priboi was forced to go into hiding. He fled to Finland in 1907, and between 1907-1913 lived in England, visiting France, Spain, North Africa and Capri, where he befriended the exiled Maxim Gorky, who provided him with advice on his writing. Novikov-Priboi supported himself working part time as a blacksmith, accountant, and as a merchant sailor. He returned to Russia in 1913 under a false passport.
During World War I, from 1915–1918, Novikov-Priboi worked on hospital trains, and afterwards settling at Barnaul, where he lived to 1920 in a commune with fellow writers and artists. His first collection of short stories, Sea Stories, was published in 1917 after some difficulties with the publishers. Novikov-Priboi’s early works were influenced by Gorky and are part of the mainstream of Russian realistic literature. These include classic "seafaring" works, including (the novella The Call of the Sea (1919) and the novels The Submariners (1923) and The Salty Font (1929).
From 1920, Novikov-Priboi began work on a historical epic Tsushima, and was able to access government achieves. The first part of the book was published in 1932, and the 2nd part was awarded the Stalin Prize, (2nd degree). The novel describes the heroism of Russian sailors and certain officers the increasing of revolutionary activity, and what he considered criminal negligence of the Imperial Russian Naval command.
After the start of World War II, Novikov-Priboi continued to publish works about the navy. He died in 1944 in Moscow, with his final novel Captain First Class, unfinished. His grave is at the Novodevichy Cemetery. Novikov-Priboi was honored by commemorative postage stamps issued in 1952 and 1977, and numerous streets in the former Soviet Union were named after him. His honors include Order of Red Banner of Labor and Medal for the Defence of Moscow.
In 1969, his daughter opened a private museum in his honor, at his former dacha at Cherkizovo, near Pushkino, Moscow Oblast.
English Translations
The Captain, Hutchinson International, 1946.
The Sea Beckons, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1965.
Tsushima, Hyperion Press, 1978.
Novikov-Priboi was the second son of a peasant family from Tambov Oblast. His mother, of Polish descent, had hoped that he would enter the church as a monk, but he was attracted to the thought of adventure by hearing stories from travelling sailors, and volunteered for the Imperial Russian Navy instead. He served as a seaman with the Russian Baltic Fleet from 1899-1906. He became involved with revolutionary activities from an early age and after publishing an article in a Kronstadt newspaper in 1903, was arrested from spreading "subversive propaganda". However, due to the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05, he was soon released, and with his records marked "unreliable" was transferred to the 2nd Pacific Squadon’s battleship Orel, on which he participated at the climatic Battle of Tsushima.
Taken as a prisoner-of-war by the Japanese, while in prison camp he began gathering stories from fellow survivors. After the war, he returned to his home town and began writing, and his first works describing the war in highly critical terms were published in 1906. However, he soon fell afoul with the tsarist authorities who banned his works, and Novikov-Priboi was forced to go into hiding. He fled to Finland in 1907, and between 1907-1913 lived in England, visiting France, Spain, North Africa and Capri, where he befriended the exiled Maxim Gorky, who provided him with advice on his writing. Novikov-Priboi supported himself working part time as a blacksmith, accountant, and as a merchant sailor. He returned to Russia in 1913 under a false passport.
During World War I, from 1915–1918, Novikov-Priboi worked on hospital trains, and afterwards settling at Barnaul, where he lived to 1920 in a commune with fellow writers and artists. His first collection of short stories, Sea Stories, was published in 1917 after some difficulties with the publishers. Novikov-Priboi’s early works were influenced by Gorky and are part of the mainstream of Russian realistic literature. These include classic "seafaring" works, including (the novella The Call of the Sea (1919) and the novels The Submariners (1923) and The Salty Font (1929).
From 1920, Novikov-Priboi began work on a historical epic Tsushima, and was able to access government achieves. The first part of the book was published in 1932, and the 2nd part was awarded the Stalin Prize, (2nd degree). The novel describes the heroism of Russian sailors and certain officers the increasing of revolutionary activity, and what he considered criminal negligence of the Imperial Russian Naval command.
After the start of World War II, Novikov-Priboi continued to publish works about the navy. He died in 1944 in Moscow, with his final novel Captain First Class, unfinished. His grave is at the Novodevichy Cemetery. Novikov-Priboi was honored by commemorative postage stamps issued in 1952 and 1977, and numerous streets in the former Soviet Union were named after him. His honors include Order of Red Banner of Labor and Medal for the Defence of Moscow.
In 1969, his daughter opened a private museum in his honor, at his former dacha at Cherkizovo, near Pushkino, Moscow Oblast.
English Translations
The Captain, Hutchinson International, 1946.
The Sea Beckons, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1965.
Tsushima, Hyperion Press, 1978.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 7, 2019
This is quite possibly my favourite book. The story had me completely enthralled. I could barely put it down. I found Novikov-Priboy's writing style particularly fascinating. The way in which he tells the story of Psaltyrev as he ascends the ranks of the tsarist Russian navy but from the perspective of his friend was captivating. The narrative is told almost entirely in the form of anecdotes and stories Psaltyrev tells the narrator about what has happened since last they met. I would definitely recommend this book.
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