Hide and Seek

by Fyodor Sologub

Short story. A young mother is completely enraptured with her young, precocious daughter.

Genres: Russia, Russian Literature, Short Stories, Fiction

Unknown Binding

About the author

Fyodor Sologub (Russian: Фёдор Сологуб, born Fyodor Kuzmich Teternikov, Russian: Фёдор Кузьмич Тетерников; 1 March 1863 – 5 December 1927) was a Russian Symbolist poet, novelist, playwright and essayist. He was the first writer to introduce the morbid, pessimistic elements characteristic of European fin de siècle literature and philosophy into Russian prose.

Reviews

[scl.ashx · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5 stars

Sologub, heavily influenced by Symbolism and Decadence, often presents characters who long for something beyond reality but are continually pulled back into its cruelty. Arseny embodies this tragic pursuit.

The novel paints a bleak picture of free will, showing how the characters are trapped by their social and psychological conditions. Every attempt at change leads to further entrapment.

Sologub employs dark humor and grotesque imagery, making even mundane life seem like an eerie, twisted dream.

Like The Petty Demon, Hide and Seek critiques the stifling nature of provincial Russia, where gossip, rigid traditions, and pettiness crush individual ambition.

[Adia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Serafima Alexandrovna possesses an obsessive love for her young daughter, Lelechka, a lovely toddler whose favorite game is Hide and Seek. Is this fondness of the game a sign of something serious? once this thought enters Serafima's head, it does not go away, sending Serafima through days of agonizing worry before her fears prove to be founded.
"She'll hide, and hide, and hide away, angelic little soul, in a damp grave..."

[dely · Rating 4 out of 5]

Con poche parole semplici ma efficaci Sologub riesce a parlare dell'amore materno, della freddezza paterna, delle superstizioni popolari e della malattia mentale, argomento molto caro ai russi.
Racconto molto breve ma profondo.

La storia è disponibile online: http://www.online-literature.com/fyod...

[Timothy Coplin · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a parent and grandparent, I find this story heartbreaking. Sologub has done a tremendous job of bringing descriptive and emotional depth to the main cast of characters in quite a small amount of space; support cast are duly afforded far less development.

There are some instances where it feels as though time is a bit muddled in the sequence of story telling which I felt a little confusing, but the story itself does not suffer for it.

Lelechka, tiu-tiu!

[Violet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read it here for free: http://www.online-literature.com/fyod...

[Timothy Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny how hide and seek can be a dark metaphor

[Per · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/13437...

[Sunita Dwivedi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A heart rending story by Fiodor Sollogub. I did not know I had so many tears in my eyes. The lovely Leleshka and here doting mother… Destiny is utterly cruel. Please read this story!

[Amalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this with the group. It was a powerful story. Anyone who is interested in a review check the discussion thread.

Spoiler alert*

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Vanjr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written (translated) short story about a woman and her child. I found it real and surreal.