Cities and Years

by Konstantin Fedin, Michael Scammell (Translator)

The cities are Berlin and Moscow, the years those of the First World War and the Russian Revolution, and the theme what role should the intelligentsia play in the inevitable revolution looming over society? Konstantin Fedin's intense exploration of war and its aftermath focuses on Andrei Startsov, an intellectual who must wrestle with his ambivalence toward the convulsions in his homeland and with his love for the rebellious and fiercely independent Marie.

Genres: Russia, Fiction, Russian Literature

462 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1924

About the author

Konstantin Aleksandrovich Fedin (Russian: Константин Федин) was a Soviet novelist.

Born in Saratov of humble origins, Fedin studied in Moscow and Germany and was interned there during World War I. After his release he worked as an interpreter in the first Soviet embassy in Berlin. On returning to Russia he joined the Bolsheviks and served in the Red Army; after leaving the Party in 1921 he joined the literary group called the Serapion Brothers, who supported the Revolution but wanted freedom for literature and the arts.

His first story, "The Orchard," was published in 1922, as was his play Bakunin v Drezdene (Bakunin in Dresden). His first two novels are his most important; Goroda i gody (1924; tr. as Cities and Years, 1962, "one of the first major novels in Soviet literature") and Bratya (Brothers, 1928) both deal with the problems of intellectuals at the time of the October Revolution, and include "impressions of the German bourgeois world" based on his wartime imprisonment. His later novels include Pokhishchenie Evropy (The rape of Europe, 1935), Sanatorii Arktur (The Arktur sanatorium, 1939), and the historical trilogy, Pervye radosti (First joys, 1945), Neobyknovennoe leto (An unusual summer, 1948), and Kostyor (The fire, 1961-67). He also wrote a memoir Gorky sredi nas (Gorky among us, 1943).

Edward J. Brown sums him up as follows: "Fedin, while he is probably not a great writer, did possess in a high degree the talent for communicating the atmosphere of a particular time and place. His best writing is reminiscent re-creation of his own experiences, and his memory is able to select and retain sensuous elements of long-past scenes which render their telling a rich experience."

From 1959 until his death in 1977, he served, first as a secretary, and than as chair of the Union of Soviet Writers.

Reviews

[Nina]

A bizarre book that I weirdly enjoyed reading.

"Herr Hennig sighed and stretched, as after a good pork chop. He was satisfied with the style of his speech and wrinkled his eyes at the transparent clarity of his philosophy."

"Then the burghers in morning coats, with tightly rolled umbrellas, in debries and light-colored vests, began to say that the victor in the World War would be the one who had the strongest nerves, as General-Field-marshal von Hindenburg had so rightly said.
'But I say, Herr Assistant, we've been talking too much and are on the path reserved for bicycles!'
'Oh, yess, Herr Privy-councillor, you're quite right.'
And they turned back and turned onto the path for pedestrians."

"It sounded as if someone had thrown a handful of peas upon an iron roof and they had rolled down the slope into the gutter."

"The mechanics of popular crowds in town streets has its own laws and these laws, of course, cannot be broken by such a superficial phenomenon as human friendship."

"The following day the sun rose two and a half minutes later than it had the day before. For the rest, the dawn was not the least bit remarkable."

[chort · Rating 5 out of 5]

всё-таки хочется спросить у константина александровича, он серьёзно что ль думал, что ему сойдёт с рук эта повешенная кошка? ну то есть не ему, а героине. ну в общем вы поняли.