Истоки

by Mark Aldanov, Марк Алданов

В большей степени, чем любое другое произведение Алданова, Истоки связаны с русским историческим романом XIX века. Но современник Соловков и Хиросимы, Алданов по-новому интерпретирует известные события русской и европейской истории 1874-81 годов. Размышляя о культурной традиции, сталкивая героику и будни, анализируя поведение человека перед лицом смерти, он, по существу, остается в кругу вечных тем, но главный его мотив - бессилие человека перед потоком исторических событий, тщетность исторических деяний. Этот горький мотив контрастирует с внешней легкостью занимательного повествования: композиция выразительна, сюжет включает элементы высокой трагедии, мелодрамы, криминальной истории.

512 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

Mark Aleksandrovich Aldanov was a Russian writer and critic,known for his historical novels.

Mark Landau (Aldanov) was born in Kiev in the family of a rich Jewish industrialist. He graduated the physical-mathematical and law departments of Kiev University. He published serious research papers in chemistry. In 1919 he emigrated to France. During 1922-1924 he lived in Berlin and during 1941-1946, in the United States.

Ivan Bunin, the first Russian writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, nominated Aldanov for Nobel Prize a total of six times - in 1938, 1939, 1947, 1948, 1949, and 1950.

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intrigues, loves, deaths, unrest, conspiracies… Before the Deluge is panoramic, extremely informative and very witty… The deluge of the title is the revolution.
The nineteenth century… The middle of the seventies… The restlessness of minds… Saint Petersburg… A radical minded artist – a man without a certain purpose in life – is going to go abroad… He dreams of meeting Bakunin…

That day, January 11th, 1874, Nicholas Mamontov, like so many other inhabitants of late-rising Petersburg, awoke much before his usual time. 
Bewildered, he sat up in bed, blinking his eyes in the light which flooded his room. ‘What the devil is that? What’s happened?’ The roar of the cannonade was very loud: the hotel room faced Isaackiev Square. Mamontov did not grasp at once that this was a salute.

It’s the day of the royal wedding… In the evening he meets a friend who gives him the parting wishes…

‘To make it brief, Leonardo da Vinci has a hundred thousand plans. Well, I wish you success in all but one, the revolutionary one.’
‘Possibly that is the best one of them all.’

He manages to meet Bakunin in Locarno… And the old anarchist lectures him… He calls Marx and his followers dirty intriguers…

‘Where people get so much vileness and petty malice from, I simply can’t understand. I know that dirt cannot be avoided in a political struggle. Who is free from it? And there is a lot of it on me, oh – what a lot!’ he said, wheezing.

When they throw mud at you, it’s mean… But when you start throwing mud at them, it’s perfectly fine… This is a quintessence of all the ideological warfares… But there are also terrorists… They don’t throw mud… They throw bombs… One fine day Perovskaya meets Zhelyabov… Dragon’s teeth are sown… “Alexander II and his murderer – both fatally wounded – sat, almost side by side, in the snow…” The czar is kaput…
One of the principal personages visits Dostoevsky and is literally hypnotized by his prophetic power…

The meaning of what Dostoievsky said was not quite clear in Tcherniakov’s mind. He remembered his words, that all would end in anthropophagy, that liberty would be transformed into slavery, and socialism become a dreadful, bloody and, at the same time vulgar, hell.

True revolutionaries don’t create, they exterminate and destroy.

[Alexander Gulbit · Rating 4 out of 5]

При том, что мне очень понравились многие социально-политические аспекты поднятые в книге, как литературное произведение могло бы быть и лучше - слишком много сюжетных линий, сами линии местами очень провисают по динамике. Подготовка убийства царя самый запоминающийся момент.