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208 pages, Paperback
First published November 23, 1922

¹ Despite this, the story was deeply loved by Soviet censors and public alike. The censors and the 'higher-ups' seemed to take a stand that the titular scarlet sails were a direct allusion to the uplifting power of the Great October Socialist Revolution, the color of revolutionary romaticism. But sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and, really, an attempt to find the glorification of revolution in this sweet escapist novella wold be pathetically far-fetched.


"He sat, quietly moving the bow, making the strings speak in a magical outworldly voice, and thought about happiness..."



Never before, a big ship came to this shore, and this ship carried the same scarlet sails the name of which had represented an insult for so long. Now those sails blazed. Innocent like a fact, they clearly and irrevocably denied all the laws of nature and common sense.(translated from Russian by me)The plotline is lyrical and romantic--a fairy tale about the power of dreams. The heroes are more archetypes than breathing people, but the writer’s voice is marvelous, expressive and emotional. His words are so evocative they touch your soul. You could almost see every scene, breathe the salty air, hear the gulls scream. Every detail is like a tiny butterfly infused with radiance.