Two Crocodiles

by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Felisberto Hernández, Constance Garnett (Translator)

Two Crocodiles highlights two literary masters from opposite ends of the world - Russia's Fyodor Dostoevsky and Uruguay's Felisberto Hernández. Dostoevsky's crocodile, cruelly displayed in a traveling sideshow, gobbles whole a pretentious high-ranking civil servant. But the functionary survives unscathed and seizes his new unique platform to expound to the fascinated public. Dostoevsky's Crocodile is a matchless, hilarious satire.

Hernandez's Crocodile, on the other hand, while also terribly funny, is a heartbreaker. A pianist struggling to make ends meet as a salesman finds success when he begins to weep before clients and audience alike, but then he can't stop the crocodile tears.

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

96 pages, Paperback

First published July 16, 2013

About the author

Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский (Russian)

Works, such as the novels Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), and The Brothers Karamazov (1880), of Russian writer Feodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky or Dostoevski combine religious mysticism with profound psychological insight.

Very influential writings of Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin included Problems of Dostoyevsky's Works (1929),

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky composed short stories, essays, and journals. His literature explores humans in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmospheres of 19th-century and engages with a variety of philosophies and themes. People most acclaimed his Demons(1872) .

Many literary critics rate him among the greatest authors of world literature and consider multiple books written by him to be highly influential masterpieces. They consider his Notes from Underground of the first existentialist literature. He is also well regarded as a philosopher and theologian.

(Russian: Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский) (see also Fiodor Dostoïevski)

Reviews

[Justin Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

The combination of a Dostoevsky short story and a Hernandez short story can only be justified by the fact that the cover design is fabulous, and that why not throw in a short story by a lesser known (comparatively) writer with an uncharacteristic work of a better known writer? So, this volume is ridiculous, and made more so by the terrible binding and rampant typos (the word "full" is rendered, presumably by character-recognition software, as "trill", and "frill", within three paragraphs).

But I've read some disappointing stuff lately, and these stories were anything but. Dostoevsky is known for being Deep And Profound, and therefore mistakenly not thought of as a satirist, because for whatever reason anglophones believe that you can only be Deep And Profound while being Existentialist About The Lack Of Meaning Of Life, which is hard to do when you're laughing. But the big D's major books, particularly Demons, are deeply satirical, so it's no surprise that he does a good job with this story about a liberal/progressive/positivist getting swallowed by what may or may not be a crocodile (I suspect it's actually a fake, because that makes the story even funnier). The high point is the wonderful rants by our modern-day Jonah, who plans to use his new found expertize to rise to the heights of the bureaucracy, while admitting that the economic imperative requires that he *not* be removed from the crocodile's belly.

Hernandez's story does not actually feature a crocodile, and has nothing to do with any of this, though it is similarly cutting re consumerism and the bien pensants of the bourgeoisie. Because the narrator is less distanced than in Dostoevsky's 'Crocodile,' Hernandez's story is actually closer to the feeling of Dostoevsky's novels, where the satire and hatred is crushingly sad.

So, this poorly constructed volume did its job: I read Dostoevsky's story, and enjoyed it; I read Hernandez's story, and decided to read more of him.

[Alex McEwen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have like 2 good stories I tell, and forgive me if you’d heard this one already. Several years ago I was working at a summer camp and on Sunday nights we would play arena soccer. And I very quickly learned that I was miserable at all forms of soccer, arena or not. And so I did what any quiet academic would do, and I used my night off to go to Barnes and Noble to purchase a copy of “Soccer for Dummies.” I spent the next week pouring over this text as if it was an ancient time that held the secrets to a long forgotten mystery. And come Sunday night, I knew every soccer strategy you could think of, and I knew the lingo that went with the game. However, we went out onto the field and my soccer skills couldn’t keep up with my knowledge. I could talk the talk, but my skill woefully lagged. The next week I used my night off to purchase a pair of cleats and some shin guards. Maybe if I had the equipment I could modify my performance. However, Sunday rolled around and my skill still woefully lacked.

No matter what, come Sunday I just wasn’t an athlete. Every action I took was a bandaid. I was throwing spaghetti at the wall. Nothing I could do would replace years of training, conditioning, and practice. I couldn’t manufacture quality performance with cheap shortcuts.

Two Crocodiles suffers a very similar fate. The project had an incredible amount of potential, however the execution was terrible.

From the beginning, the cover is gorgous and the volume offers a Dostoyevsky work I have never heard of. One of the stories was great and the second was provoking. However, that’s about where the positives end.

The volume is poorly bound. If you actually intend to read these stories, pass on this book. The book was practically falling apart before I got halfway through the first story. The book doesn’t open up all the way without being ripped apart, and the spine is as worthless as my soccer cleats. Beyond that the editor has used some form of scanning software or AI interface to get the content of the stories formatted into this book. There are about 100 spelling, grammar, and syntactical errors in this work. I trust Dostoyevsky wasn’t writing in English, and so any issue had to come from editing, or lack thereof.

The typeface is pretty but the paperweight is too thick for this book. The book would have stayed together with a lighter paperweight or a different form of binding.

The Dostoyevsky story was fun. You expect Dostoyevsky to be dark and witty, however this volume is deeply satirical in a way you don’t expect a Dostoyevsky novel to be. The story humorously explores the absurdity of human nature, societal values, and whether Russia is a Western Society, and Eastern Society, or something unique. The Dostoyevsky work felt far more modern than much of his other repertoire. It was incredibly absurdist and almost felt like reading Bulgakov.

The Hernandez selection was my first interaction with the author. The work’s only tie to the former work was that it shared the same title. It was weird and dreamy in a way that didn’t sit well with me. It felt like it was trying incredibly hard to be insightful without actually being all that insightful. It felt like it was trying to tell the world “I am very smart” without being smart.

Two Crocodiles should have been a winner. Someone in a marketing meeting had a stroke of genius to republish the Dostoyevsky work in modern translation alongside a more modern short story. They did well to give it a beautiful cover. However, the editing team just couldn’t deliver what the work deserved. They threw bandaids at it and hoped they could conjure up a good piece. The execution was poorly done and it wasn’t Dostoyevsky or Hernandez’ fault.

[Devin Willson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

i enjoyed both stories, altho neither wow-ed me. it's very clear they're only combined in one volume bc they have the same title; both stories are absurd for sure, but they don't really hold any thematic similarity.

[Natacha Pavlov · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the tittle suggests, this quick read features 2 crocodile-themed short stories, albeit with very different vibes. Dostoevsky's piece made me laugh but felt unfinished, while I found Hernandez's story quite sad.
Handed to me randomly by my brother, it reminded me yet again how much I enjoy the short story genre.
On an editing note, the text contained quite a few copy editing issues.

[Amy Gentry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two satirical, absurdist stories, both called "The Crocodile," are juxtaposed in this pocket-sized New Directions Pearl. The Dostoevsky was new to me and a delight to read, but the real joy was being introduced to the Uruguayan author Felisberto Hernandez, a forerunner of the magical realist tradition. Acquired in the Malvern Books closing sale, RIP.

[T’Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This took me entirely too long to read, and I won’t pretend that it’s the book’s fault.

I can say, I was quite disinterested in quite a bit of the book for a long while but it certainly gained traction as the first story went along. I am a little lost on the true meaning behind Dostoyevsky‘s portion, but I have some solid ideas.

My favorite quote from his section, is a quote that also kind of sets a lot of the story; “…over education leads people to poke their noses into all sorts of places, especially where they are not invited”.

As for Hernández’ portion of the book, I really resonated with the pianist turned salesman. It’s a really well written short story.

My 2 favorite quotes from his section are;
“But there might not be many happy times left to me”.
and “I’m fine, really. I have lots of spirit! It’s just that sometimes you guys comes over me; it’s like a memory….”

All in all, this is a really good pair of stories to read.

[Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating. That Dostoyevsky narrator we all love—erratic, desperate, funny—in a satirical story with a lighter, more overtly comical tone than you’d expect from D’s work.

The Hernández story was my first dabble into his stuff. Listless, detached, melancholic, beautiful.

The ND pearls are wonderful little culitural artifacts (and I now almost have copies of all of them).

[Twokunt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked Hernández’s story a lot more than Fyodor’s, even though it was a lot shorter I felt like Hernandez had a lot more complete ending and it was a lot more serious while still funny at sometimes, this is my first fyodor story and I plan to read his bigger novels, hopefully the endings close out better and they’re a lot more serious while still satirical. Good read though nevertheless

[Dana Nissan · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all THE COVER, second the idea behind this collab is pure genius, and lastly both books were just great

[Snail Busfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Make me lol

[Mateo Jaramillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious. I've been looking for an easy intro to Dostoevsky and Crocodile was definitely a great mix of humor and kafkaesque satire for me. Plus the Hernandez surrealist short story is a bonus

[Guthrie C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun juxtaposition of two crocodile stories from great authors. The stories are as interesting as they are quite different.

[Elizabeth]

great little book thank you new directions. what other press could unite the twin passions of 19th century russia and 20th century uruguay

[Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something completely absurd has happened in Dostoyevsky's The Crocodile - not only has a man (and a civil servant at that!) been swallowed whole by the side show beast, he's also still alive and well inside of it - but it clearly isn't insane enough to pop the personal bubbles of the characters experiencing it. Hardly anyone manages to look at the situation without drawing up a narrative that fits their own opinions. No one takes it at face value, and their reactions are mismatched with reality. Both the incident and the suggested solutions are twisted into tools of propaganda, personal and political, and some are so skilled at this that the thought of a man living in the stomach of a crocodile earns no more reaction from them than perhaps a raised eyebrow - it's even predictable, really, inevitable. Objective reality is put aside: after all, what good is reality if it doesn't serve a cause?

And so, the story of Ivan Matveitch being devoured by a crocodile turns into a debate on how it could benefit the economy, how it's proof that Russian culture and values are obsolete, and whatever else people care about. What does this crocodile and the man inside of it mean for Russia?

Through this, Dostoyevsky wrestles with a problem that has survived in Russia for centuries: is the Russian identity Western, eastern, or just uniquely Russian? Dostoyevsky fought the perceived influence of Western ideas in the 1860's, and we still see a similar ideological fight play out in the Russia of today. In The Crocodile, nearly everybody's out to convert the country into something new and "civilized", whether the focus lies on economy or culture. Many of the characters seem to long for being acknowledged by the West, to join "the European", somewhat reminiscent of the more recent identity crises befalling many former Soviet Republics after the fall of communist rule. There's an idea of the west and Europe as sophisticated and successful, as well as a sometimes conflicted wish to belong. Dostoyevsky appears more than fed up with public opinion on how Russia should become more cosmopolitan, more European, and even more patriotic characters wish for Russia to adopt Western capitalism.

The characters are absolutely wonderful, but we all already knew they would be, seeing as this is Dostoyevsky. It's fun in that dry, deadpan way, and the narrator is wonderfully detached. Blows are distributed to greed, vanity, and pride.

Even though Dostoyevsky's crocodile takes up most of the pages in this slim edition, it's not the only one there. As a matter of fact, it's not even the best one of the two short stories paired up by New Directions into Two Crocodiles.

In the last twenty pages, a very different story unfold. An artist tries crying in public on a whim, and soon discovers the merits of false tears. This Crocodile belongs to Felisberto Hernández, an author I'd heard of but never read, and it is very, very good. The atmosphere is meticulously crafted, and Hernández manages to give us a lot by telling very little, a talent he shares with with many South American authors of his time. The reader does nearly as much work as the author here: we get small, half-remembered details, and get to glue them together however we see fit. It's beautiful, the way a vivid painting is, and while you could certainly read it for the imagery alone, it also explores the idea of emotions as an act of violence. The artist wants to somehow prove to the world that he is "capable of great violence", and it is violent, forcing the strangers around him to take part in a situation that is otherwise private and almost shameful, to confront them with a man crying. It made me want to cry in front of strangers too, just to force my existence on them.

While both of these stories are great, I have a hard time finding a reason for them to be combined like this. Dostoyevsky's Crocodile is a political caricature, and Hernández's Crocodile feels a lot more intimate and quiet. The edition itself had several issues with editing, and the quality of the paperback isn't too good. On their own, these stories get four stars each, but brought together by ND, they get three.

[jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

two crocodiles is the latest gem in the new directions "pearls" series. writing in different hemispheres during two different centuries, fyodor dostoevsky and felisberto hernández may appear to be an unlikely pairing - and indeed they are (but that is no reason they shouldn't share a slim volume together).

dostoevsky's the crocodile: an extraordinary incident is "a true story of how a gentleman of a certain age and of respectable appearance was swallowed alive by the crocodile in the arcade, and of the consequences that followed." the russian master's satire is a charming, often funny allegory about, perhaps, the encroaching influence of outside nations and trade in mid-19th century russia.

felisberto's story, the crocodile (collected in lands of memory), is the tale of a concert pianist and traveling hosiery salesman for whom crying on command becomes a slight obsession. the tears start and stop with ease - until they don't.

...i considered myself a bourgeois of anguish.

translated from the russian and spanish by contance garnett (chekhov, turgenev, tolstoy, gogol, et al.) and esther allen (borges, marías, martí, cendrars, prieto, et al.), respectively.

[saizine · Rating 4 out of 5]

It seemed as though that last despairing countenance had only popped out to cast one last look on the objects around it, to take its last farewell of all earthly pleasures. But it had not time to carry out its intention: the crocodile made another effort, gave a gulp and instantly it vanished again—this time forever. (Dostoyevsky)

And suddenly, just as I was beginning to calm down, I had an idea. What would happen if I started crying right in front of all these people? It struck me as a very violent thing to do, but I’d been wanting to do something out of the ordinary, to put the world to the test, for a long time. I also needed to prove to myself that I was capable of great violence. (Hernández)

4 stars for the stories, 3 for the edition. A lovely pair of stories - I hadn’t branched into this satirical side of Dostoyevsky before and I think I’ll try and do more of it in the future (though perhaps with a different translator), and while I hadn’t heard of Hernández the story included here has sent me out in search of more complete collections of his. This edition, while certainly stylish and an interesting juxtaposition of work, did need close copyediting - though not enough to impede comprehension, so if you really want this cover on your bookshelves/side tables, then it’s certainly very good-looking.

[Jennifer Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buying this tiny book was a no-brainer, considering my love for Dostoevsky and for fun book covers. My two favorites - Russian satire and Latin American magical realism - together and complementing each other in one adorable little book! Yay. The two "The Crocodile" stories are very different, but both are absurd and critical in their own ways. While these may not be game-changing pieces of literature, they are a lot of fun to read. I will definitely be on the lookout for more work by Hernandez.

[F Gato · Rating 4 out of 5]

Binding these two totally different stories together with the crocodile theme seems strange to me. I giggled my way through Dostoevsky's story, but was left wanting more at the end. Hernandez's story felt like a mental cooldown after that mental overheat. I only got this book for the love of Dostoevsky (and the cute cover). Is Hernandez's story just a sad bonus? Who in the world would get this book with the thought, 'Oh finally, a crocodile-themed short stories!'

[Lancakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection deserves a high rating for its gorgeous cover alone. I greatly enjoyed Dostoyevsky's novella and found its satire to be sharp and funny. Felisberto's short story was less to my taste, but I already feel the pull to reread it and get more from it. I would rate it 5 stars but there were more than a few typos and copy editing issues in both stories.

[Andre · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fair read- reasonably engaging, and certainly striking in its subject-matter. I'm probably way too ignorant to appreciate the undertones or allusions in this book, but it didn't particularly stand out for me.

I must say the second story did get a bit to me in the way Kafka and his short stories did.

[Johnny Newport · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an admitted dostoevsky fanboi, I wasn't as letdown and underwhelmed by his story than I was pleasantly surprised at how great felisberto's story was as he stole the show. This makes me want to read more of his work.

[Dorothy Georgina · Rating 4 out of 5]

oh wow laughed out loud
oh wow im crying

[Joem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short, quick. Nice stories... both very illustrative of different things. The Dostoyevsky was quite funny. The Hernández had humor, too, but was more of a beautiful melancholy.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

two very different stories, two very awesome stories. Felisberto's Crocodile was my favorite of the two

[TheThirdLie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll definitely be checking out more from both of these authors now.

[Nicholas Finch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not only has my love for Dostoevsky been solidified but I have a new found appreciation for Felisberto Hernandez. I am definitely planning to read more of his work.