Любовь вторая

by Vasily Yanovsky, Василий Яновский

Collection of novels, short stories and articles of one of the most important Russian post-1917 émigré authors belonging to the generation which grew up during the revolution and the Civil War.

Имя Василия Яновского (1906—1989), одного из самых противоречивых писателей русского зарубежья, знакомо российским читателям главным образом благодаря его колоритным, дерзким мемуарам из жизни русского Парижа тридцатых годов «Поля Елисейские. Книга памяти», а также не так давно опубликованным романам послевоенного периода «Портативное бессмертие» и «По ту сторону времени». Между тем литературное наследие этого автора очень многообразно и до сих пор неизвестно в полном объеме. В данный сборник включены ранние произведения Яновского, большинство из которых были впервые напечатаны ничтожно малыми тиражами в русскоязычных издательствах или в эмигрантской периодике довоенного Парижа и с тех пор не переиздавались. Эти ранние повести и рассказы не только проясняют истоки и диалектику творчества писателя, но и существенно дополняют наши представления о литературном вкладе «младшего» поколения первой волны эмиграции, которое нередко называют «незамеченным поколением» или «русским Монпарнасом». Помимо художественных произведений, в книгу вошли воспоминания Яновского об англо-американском поэте У. Х. Одене и писательнице, журналистке и известном деятеле русской диаспоры Елене Извольской, а также его эссе, интервью и рецензии. В приложение включен ряд откликов на творчество Яновского в эмигрантской критике и воспоминания о нем.

608 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1935

About the author

Васи́лий Семёнович Яно́вский
Born: April 14, 1906, Poltava
Died: July 20, 1989, New York, New York, United States

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Due to his bleak writing manner Vasily Yanovsky was often compared with Louis-Ferdinand Céline and I could also compare him with Vsevolod Garshin.
His dark, full of existential motifs stories are written in the style of expressionism.
Novella Love the Second is a tale of the young nameless woman who, after fleeing from Russia, finds herself in Paris without any work and money; and homeless she begs and sleeps under bridges…

Day means struggle; scornful spits, derision and persecution. In the dark all are equal; in the sleep everyone’s fate is the same. If only it were always night and no anxiety. If only one could die in darkness!
Hateful, requiring great efforts, the dawn arrives.

She finds a poor work, loses it and lives miserably by accidental jobs… She sees no purpose in living so depressed and suicidal she wanders the streets…

The river resiliently rolled its waves. The water was running, the water didn’t stop for a moment. And the doomful signs were hidden in all this. A strict warning, a promise. And suddenly she was stung by the possible exit: “It will be so calm at the bottom.”

However, she moves on. Finally, because of all dire turns in her destiny, she becomes mentally unstable, religiously obsessed and full of illusory light.
Novelette The Wheel is a story of an adolescent boy during the civil war… Death of all his relatives, hunger, fear, wretchedness, naivety, thievery… Possibly, the tale is based on the personal experience of the author…

“Only we all must perish… All those who were already born… Because it’s the wheel of the revolution…” Softly whispers Sasha such an important word, and he imagines that wheel, so big, so gigantic, and there are seats inside, and powerful persons are sitting there, with moustache and without… And all of them are writing: how, and what, and when. And nearby, as if in the park, the orchestra plays waltz. Such a beautiful waltz. And the wheel keeps turning and turning; music keeps playing, and under the wheel there are just everyone’s arms and legs. There Sasha sees himself, his mother, the older brother; only their heads are visible, and the music plays beautifully: “You fell victims in the deadly struggle…”

At the time of social chaos, fatality rules over man.