Envy, and Other Works

by Yury Olesha

CONTENTSIntroduction viiEnvy (1927) 1The Chain (1929) 123Love (1928) 131Lyompa (1928) 141The Cherry Stone (1929) 147Aldebaran (1931) 159From the Secret Notebook ofFellow-Traveler Sand (1931) 167Natasha (1936) 181I Look into the Past (1928) 185Human Material (1928) 195Jottings of a Writer (1930) 201Speech to the First Congress ofSoviet Writers (1934) 213A List of Assets (1931) 221

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Russian Literature, Russia, Classics

Paperback

First published May 1, 1981

About the author

Yury Karlovich Olesha (Russian/Ukraine: Юрий Олеша or Юрий Карлович Олеша), Soviet author of fiction, plays and satires best known for his 1927 novel Envy (Russian: Зависть). He is considered one of the greatest Russian novelists of the 20th century, one of the few to have succeeded in writing works of lasting artistic value despite the stifling censorship of the era. His works are delicate balancing-acts that superficially send pro-Communist messages but reveal far greater subtlety and richness upon a deeper reading. Sometimes, he is grouped with his friends Ilf and Petrov, Isaac Babel, and Sigismund Krzhizhanovsky into the Odessa School of Writers.

Reviews

[bill greene · Rating 4 out of 5]

i'm actually reading a different edition. (Andrew R MacAndrew is the translator & his ear is good.) so far i've read a couple stories & am circling in on Envy. so far so good, although i always wonder in a case like this what the author would have written if he weren't under threat of censorship.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to get a hold on this book but the new translation is rather poor and way too modern. This is like watching a classic film captured in the magnificence of the written word.

[Bradford · Rating 3 out of 5]

early soviet lit, stinging satire, but less resonant than isaac babel.