Das Krokodil: Erzählungen

by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Christiane Pöhlmann (Translator), Eckhard Henscheid (Afterword)

Lachen mit Dostojewski! – Ein ungewohnter Blick auf den Großklassiker


Fjodor Dostojewski – der Inbegriff von existenzieller Düsternis und qualvoller Seelenanalyse? Diese Sammlung weitet den Blick. Fünf neu übersetzte Erzählungen zeigen den russischen Großmeister von einer überraschend anderen, hierzulande kaum bekannten Seite: als Autor heiterer, satirischer Geschichten.


Die Besichtigung eines leibhaftigen Krokodils scheint Iwan Matwejitsch die geeignete Vorbereitung auf eine Europareise – da wird er von dem monströsen Tier verschluckt. Für niemanden, das Opfer eingeschlossen, ist das ein Anlass zur Klage, befördert die Attraktion eines sprechenden Menschen im Reptilienbauch doch finanzielle Interessen und Eitelkeiten aller Art. Nicht um Geld, aber um seine Glaubwürdigkeit als Mann der Reformen kämpft Staatsrat Pralinski. Um Toleranz zu demonstrieren, taucht er unangemeldet bei der Hochzeit eines Angestellten auf – «Eine peinliche Geschichte» mit chaotischen Folgen. Ob Slapstick, Groteske, sanfte Ironie oder Tragikomik – Dostojewski zieht in diesem Band alle humoristischen Register.

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Russian Literature, Classic Literature, Humor, Russia

449 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский (Russian)

Works, such as the novels Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), and The Brothers Karamazov (1880), of Russian writer Feodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky or Dostoevski combine religious mysticism with profound psychological insight.

Very influential writings of Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin included Problems of Dostoyevsky's Works (1929),

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky composed short stories, essays, and journals. His literature explores humans in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmospheres of 19th-century and engages with a variety of philosophies and themes. People most acclaimed his Demons(1872) .

Many literary critics rate him among the greatest authors of world literature and consider multiple books written by him to be highly influential masterpieces. They consider his Notes from Underground of the first existentialist literature. He is also well regarded as a philosopher and theologian.

(Russian: Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский) (see also Fiodor Dostoïevski)

Reviews

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting, entertaining, engaging collection of eight short stories. Six of the eight stories are over 50 pages. I particularly liked ‘The Crocodile’ where a man is swallowed whole by a crocodile and the man has a number of humorous discussions with various people whilst inside the crocodile. ‘An Unpleasant Predicament’ is a memorable story of a civil service boss drunkenly bursting in at around midnight to a wedding party of his subordinate. Dostoyevsky writes very well of the awkwardness of the event and how relatives of the subordinate react to the drunk official.

Dostoyevsky fans should find this book a satisfying reading experience.

[Filip · Rating 5 out of 5]

You think Seinfeld is funny? Now this is funny. The level of sarcasm, the greed, the money, the fame... oh, my gosh! If you know anything about politics and economics you will be ROFLYAO, literally. Well it does depend a little on the skill of the translator. Zlatko Crnković, the guy who translated it in Croatian did an amazing job.

[Oriol Vallès López · Rating 3 out of 5]

La tercera narració baixa molt la mitjana, és prescindible. Les tres restants són un Dosto molt fi.

[dinozor gibi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dostoyevski’nin iki öyküsüyle birlikteyiz. İlki Timsah, grotesk mizah türünde bir öykü; güldürürken düşündürten cinsten. Bir bürokratın sergiye gidip bir timsah tarafından yutulmasıyla başlayan bu absürd olayın çevresinde Dostoyevski, dönemin bürokratik işleyişini, devletin döndürdüğü çarkları, Batı hayranı aydın tipini hicvediyor; ilerleme ve modernleşme söylemlerine ironik göndermeler yapıyor. Yazarın alıştığımız yoğun ve trajik romanlarından oldukça farklı, külliyatı içinde çok ayrıksı duran ama iyi bir öykü. Dostoyevski’yle tanışma eserin olabilir.

İkinci öykü ise Gülünç Bir Adamın Düşü. Burada ton tamamen değişiyor. Hayatı anlamsız bulan, intihar etmeye karar vermiş bir adamın gördüğü rüya üzerinden kurgulanıyor. Rüyasında masumiyetle, saflıkla yaşayan bir toplumu keşfediyor; ama bu toplum da kendi etkisiyle kirleniyor. Uyandığında ise yaşadığı şeyin gerçek mi düş mü olduğundan emin değil ama yaşamın anlamına dair artık bir fikri var.

Bir yanda alaycı ve grotesk bir hiciv, öte yanda varoluşsal bir sorgulama ve umut. Timsah kitabı, Dostoyevski’nin hem mizahi hem de felsefi yanını aynı kapakta buluşturuyor. Bence ikisi de tam sana göre, bu sene okuyalım birlikte.

[Andrew Corsini · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent collection from the master. The title story retains its vivid horror whereas elsewhere White Nights is also worth a read

[Dejan · Rating 3 out of 5]

'De Krokodil' is fenomenaal, verreweg het beste verhaal in dit boek. Fijn geschreven en oprecht hilarisch: het doet denken aan Gogol in z'n prime. 'Witte Nachten' en 'Bobok' zijn ook goed; de overige verhalen zijn helaas wat minder.

[Sabina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A deeply philosophical story of a man swallowed by a crocodile, who, still alive, proceeds to create plans on how to rule the social class.

A satire about the misguided public opinion (media) vs the muddled self-proclaimed logic we create for ourselves.

[Núria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mira que me gustan las novelas de Dostoyevski, pero con los cuentos no hay manera. En este volumen que pillé en la biblioteca sólo hubo uno que me pareció mínimamente interesante; los otros los termine por puro orgullo y acabé de lo más fastidiada. El que se puede decir que aún me gustó es ‘Un episodio vergonzoso’; va de un tipo de clase alta que cree en el amor al prójimo más allá de clases sociales y decide pararse en la celebración de la boda de uno de sus empleados para demostrar que él es el jefe más bueno y solidario del mundo porque es capaz de mezclarse con la gente de clase inferior a la suya. Por supuesto, los que están celebrando la boda se quedan flipando, se preguntan qué hace allí, desean que se largue y acaban entendiendo que sólo se ha presentado por vanidad, para demostrar que él es superguay. Es un relato lúcido, crítico, inteligente y con un humor sutil. Los otros cuentos también son supuestamente humorísticos, pero el humor es mucho más grueso, uno está protagonizado por un marido cornudo, otro es sobre los muertos en el cementerio que hablan y siguen siendo tan miserables y egoístas como cuando estaban vivos, y el último es sobre un tipo al que se lo traga un cocodrilo y no quiere salir de allí porque allí dentro, sin tener que hacer nada, se está de maravilla. El problema es que el humor es muy chabacano y todo es bastante burdo y tópico, impropio de Dosto. Me río más con ‘Crimen y castigo’ o ‘Los hermanos Karamazov’ que no con estos cuentos supuestamente divertidos.

[James Roseman · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are stories in this collection I'm likely to revisit many many times. In particular, "A Faint Heart," "The Crocodile," and "A Gentle Spirit." The rest didn't resound with me, and reminded me of reading works by Joyce or Beckett in that I know it's good literature, it's just not the kind of writing I personally respond to. In all, I was disappointed that I didn't like this collection more. Unfortunately it will be some time before I have the time to invest in Dostoevsky's longer novels, in which I'm sure I'm more likely to see his genius resound.

[Andrei Mocanu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should steer clear of Constance Garnett’s translations. From downright dubious (mis)translations, to misplaced and even missing sentences. It should not have taken me this long to read this book, it is Dostoevsky we’re talking about after all! And that is precisely why I couldn’t bring myself to rate these stories lower than 5 stars. Even the one which I consider to be the weakest (A Faint Heart) I would not rate below 4 — be that 3.5 — stars. The rest are simply incredible: The Crocodile is hilariously absurd and absurdly hilarious; A Gentle Spirit messed me up, but also, perhaps surprisingly, left me confused whether I hated and was disgusted by the narrator, or not (or perhaps whether I even identified with him); Bobok and The Dream of a Ridiculous Man are simply iconic, peak Dostoevsky to me; An Unpleasant Predicament has really grown on me; and A Little Hero is the least pessimistic (if at all) and most endearing of them all. But, nonetheless, amongst all the aforementioned titles, stands my favorite short story that I’ve ever read (and probably will ever read), namely White Nights.

[Mehmet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dostoyevski’nin "Timsah" hikayesini okurken, hem eğlenceli hem de düşündürücü bir serüvene dalmış oldum. Hikaye, beklenmedik bir olayla, bir timsahın içerisine hapsolan bir insanın yaşadığı trajik durumu ele alıyor.

Ana karakterimiz, bir tüccar olan İvanov, alışveriş yapmak için girdiği dükkanda timsahın içine düşer. Bu durum, onun hayatta kalma mücadelesini ve aynı zamanda insan doğasının derinliklerini sorgulamasını sağlıyor. İvanov’un timsahın içinde geçirdiği süre, onun içsel yolculuğunu ve varoluşsal sorgulamalarını da beraberinde getiriyor.

Diğer bir karakter ise, İvanov’un nişanlısı olan Zina’dır. Zina’nın hikayedeki rolü, toplumsal normları ve insan ilişkilerini sorgulamamıza neden oluyor. Timsahın içindeki İvanov’un durumu, Zina’nın duygusal karmaşasıyla birleşince, aslında insan ilişkilerinin ne kadar karmaşık olduğunu gösteriyor.

Dostoyevski, bu kısa hikaye aracılığıyla, insana dair derin sorgulamalar yapmamızı sağlıyor. Hem düşündürücü hem de mizahi unsurlarla dolu bu eser, kesinlikle okunmayı hak ediyor. "Timsah", insanın doğası ve toplum karşısındaki durumu üzerine düşündüren, keyifli bir okuma deneyimi sunuyor.

Kesinlikle tavsiye ederim!

[Sorrowfal · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was quite entertaining and unusual I must say hence if you do not grasp the idea after the crocodile itself you may consider this story quite boring.

If you did not grasp this while you were reading ( only then ) read this ;
It is just Dostoyevsky trying to explain how he is scared of the European influence and so the crocodile is kind of a metaphor for Europa and how it swallows Russia as a whole.

In short, The crocodile is a good book if you already know Dostoyevsky and want to understand his ideas more, but if this is the first novel you read of Dostoyevsky I’m not sure if it would be to you liking.

[Robert Hepple · Rating 2 out of 5]

Published in 2003, 'The Crocodile and Other Tales' is a short collection of 6 tales of varying quality, all originally published over the years 1865-1876. I personally found the title story the weakest of the lot, and it seems to show that you can pass off poor stuff as quality if you say it is 'allegorical'. Four of the six stories are quite strong, not a bad result considering what a mixed bag most short story collections can be.

[Brett Jephson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some interesting short stories and a lot of humour. Something I didn’t really expect from reading Dostoyevsky.

There were some fantasy and satirical elements that I hadn’t expected either. Was the story Bobok an influence on George Sanders’ Lincoln in the Bardo?

[Stuart Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Been 20 years since I've read his novels but came upon this book in a shop in Athens back in the time when we could fly and have holidays. Was a reminder of why he is my favourite writer….with all that going through his mind I'm surprised he lived to 60!

[☾⋆｡ A °✩.⟡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe Nabokov was right, he was a silly billy <3
Especially with The Dream of A Ridiculous Man <<33

[Omar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Faint Heart: 4.25/5
White Nights: 5/5
A Little Hero: 4/5
An Unpleasant Predicament: 3.5/5
The Crocodile: 4.75/5
Bobok: 3.5/5
A Gentle Spirit: 5/5
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man: 4.25/5

[Tamlyn Giselle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dostoevsky is one of my absolute favorite philosphers and authors, and this book just reaffirmed his place in my list of faves! Though it's a compilation of shorter stories, different to some of his longer books such as Crime and Punishment and Demons, these stories were no less interesting and enjoyable than the rest. I look forward to reading more of his work in the future and if I could recommend Dostoevsky to other readers, I'd definitely say that this is one of the better, more digestible of his works to start off with!

[Susu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dostojewski mal ganz anders, trotzdem brillant.