Ключ

Трилогия: Революция и последствия #1

by Mark Aldanov, Марк Алданов

Genres: Russian Literature, Russia

323 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1929

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]

The novel begins with a murder… There is a corpse found in an apartment… 

“Alive? Not he! You take it from me, sir, it was the pimps that killed him. I know,” said one of the cooks darkly, “the sort of cursed flat it is!”
Having had it explained that the flat was a “gay” one, and that the man in spectacles (whose name no one knew) had not lived in it, but had used it to bring women to, the Councillor glanced again with curiosity at the distorted countenance of the dead man, and made a wry face once more.

It turns out that the dead man had been a banker… A supposed lover of his wife is interrogated and arrested… However there are some discrepancies in the evidences… And the political police are interested as well… The officer of the political police secretly has his own suspect…

“The banker Fischer,” he said unwillingly, “was an important figure in the international business world. His nationality is uncertain and his name German. It is the duty of our department to keep an eye on such people; especially now, in this anxious time of war. And when a person of this sort dies in suspicious surroundings I should simply be neglectful of my duty if I did not find out the circumstances.”

And all the events turn around the murder… Detectives and lawyers… Journalists and politicians… Intelligentsia and profiteers… The tumultuous times are full of dark undercurrents… The empire is on the threshold of the social catastrophe…  

“It’s significant that all the men of ability are leaving the Government at a dangerous time like the present.”
“I really see nothing dangerous about the time. You tell me that a revolution is very near? But we’ve been expecting it for a hundred years and have not seen it yet.”

Disasters always arrive unexpectedly.

[Olga · Rating 4.75 out of 5]

The story, which begins as a murder mystery, is set at the end of 1916 and the beginning of 1917 in Petrograd, Russia, just before the February revolution. The characters of 'The Key' are lawyers, journalists, politicians, scientists, actors and judicial officers mostly belonging to the bourgeois liberal class. I loved the way the author portrays his characters - with irony and without idealizing them.
In spite of the war, all these people live their lives, believe in liberal values, go to work every day, naively discuss Russia's future, have parties, make speeches and don't suspect they are already losing their country.
I think it is an engaging book, combining a murder investigation with a political novel. The plot is unpredictable (in spite of the fact that the country is on the brink of the collapse) characters are well-developed and relatable. The topics they discuss (the war and the revolution) are relevant today.

[Ivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

C'est un œuvre assez étrange, à mi-chemin entre un roman autobiographique, une détective, une critique politique et une étude sociologique, toutefois même avec ces éléments il est difficile de garder l’intérêt tout au long de la lecture - la littérature 'd'actualité' perd quand même beaucoup avec le passage de temps.

Достаточно странное произведение, вероятно такая литература даже будучи своеобразным социлогическим документом всё же теряет своё значение и актуальность.

I would say this book to be a strange hybrid - a chimaera of a detective story, autobiography, a political essay and a sociological study of a pre-1917 Russian society. I would lie if I said that it managed to keep my interest all the way through, as the 'social commentary' and politics of yesteryear gradually lose its bite and lustre as years go by.

[João RS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finding this book was very challenging, but after a long search, I finally managed to find a French edition from 1932.
After reading, what impressed me most was Aldanov's portrait of Russia in the final years before the Revolution. Through vivid descriptions and brilliant conversations, he captures a society that appears stable while drifting toward collapse. The novel explores the blindness of intellectuals, the limits of ideology, and the uneasy question of whether socialism could ever truly work in Russia. Aldanov is equally skeptical of wealthy businessmen who enter politics, buy influence and newspapers, profit from war, and are nevertheless regarded as wise statesmen simply because they are successful.
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the book is how contemporary it feels. Many of its observations about politics, ideology, wealth, and power could have been written today.
The ending is especially powerful: the final page marks the end of the Russian Empire, bringing to a close not only a political system but an entire world.

[Tatyana Naumova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Вроде как и не особо интересно сначала, и ннвнятная достоевщина, а прочла и собираюсь читать дальше