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Minilibros Quimantú #4
El cuarenta y uno
Translated from the Russian. Reprint of the 1958 ed. published by the Foreign Languages Pub. House, Moscow, in series: Library of Soviet literature.
108 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1924
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148 people want to read
About the author
Boris Lavrenyov
25 books5 followersBorn July 5 (17), 1891, in Kherson; died Jan. 7, 1959, in Moscow. Soviet Russian writer and playwright. Son of a literature teacher.
Lavrenev graduated in law from Moscow University in 1915. He fought in World War I (1914–18) and in the Civil War (1918–20). His literary debut came with the publication of his poetry in 1911, and his first story was published in 1924. The novellas The Wind, The Forty-first (both 1924; made into motion pictures in 1927 and 1956), and A Story About Something Simple (1927) were devoted to events of the Great October Socialist Revolution and the Civil War. Lavrenev was drawn to heroic characters and the elemental, romantic aspect of heroism (the wind image).
In the late 1920’s, Lavrenev wrote primarily about the intelligentsia, the people, and the Revolution (the novella The Seventh Fellow-traveler, 1927), as well as the fate of culture and the arts (the novella Wood Engraving, 1928). His prose is dramatic, with intricate plotting and character development through direct action.
The play Break (1927; staged by many theaters at home and abroad) epitomized Lavrenev’s artistic concerns. He treated the Revolution and the heroic character in a thorough and new way, depicting heroism in its everyday rather than its extraordinary manifestations. This attitude was reflected in such later works as the novella Big Earth (1935) and the plays The Song of the Black Sea Sailors (1943) and To Those in the Sea! (1945).
Lavrenev criticized bourgeois society in the novel The Fall of the Itl’ Republic (1925), the novella A Strategic Mistake (1934), and journalistic articles, pamphlets, and feuilletons. He received the State Prize of the USSR (1946 and 1950) and was awarded two orders and several medals.
WORKS
Sobr. sock, vols. 1–6. Introduction by E. Starikova. Moscow, 1963–65.
REFERENCES
Vishnevskaia, I. Boris Lavrenev. Moscow, 1962.
Kardin, V. “Prostye veshchi (Zametki o proze Borisa Lavreneva).” Novyi mir, 1969, no. 7.
D. P. MURAV’EV
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Lavrenev graduated in law from Moscow University in 1915. He fought in World War I (1914–18) and in the Civil War (1918–20). His literary debut came with the publication of his poetry in 1911, and his first story was published in 1924. The novellas The Wind, The Forty-first (both 1924; made into motion pictures in 1927 and 1956), and A Story About Something Simple (1927) were devoted to events of the Great October Socialist Revolution and the Civil War. Lavrenev was drawn to heroic characters and the elemental, romantic aspect of heroism (the wind image).
In the late 1920’s, Lavrenev wrote primarily about the intelligentsia, the people, and the Revolution (the novella The Seventh Fellow-traveler, 1927), as well as the fate of culture and the arts (the novella Wood Engraving, 1928). His prose is dramatic, with intricate plotting and character development through direct action.
The play Break (1927; staged by many theaters at home and abroad) epitomized Lavrenev’s artistic concerns. He treated the Revolution and the heroic character in a thorough and new way, depicting heroism in its everyday rather than its extraordinary manifestations. This attitude was reflected in such later works as the novella Big Earth (1935) and the plays The Song of the Black Sea Sailors (1943) and To Those in the Sea! (1945).
Lavrenev criticized bourgeois society in the novel The Fall of the Itl’ Republic (1925), the novella A Strategic Mistake (1934), and journalistic articles, pamphlets, and feuilletons. He received the State Prize of the USSR (1946 and 1950) and was awarded two orders and several medals.
WORKS
Sobr. sock, vols. 1–6. Introduction by E. Starikova. Moscow, 1963–65.
REFERENCES
Vishnevskaia, I. Boris Lavrenev. Moscow, 1962.
Kardin, V. “Prostye veshchi (Zametki o proze Borisa Lavreneva).” Novyi mir, 1969, no. 7.
D. P. MURAV’EV
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 17, 2021
The uproar and chaos of the civil war – the nation is drowned in the cosmic confusion…
The heroine of the story – Maryutka – is a brave young girl…
She is a true combatant and in spite of being as slender as a reed, she can defend herself from anyone…
The girl has a fame of a sharpshooter and she had already shot forty White officers so the hero of the tale should have been her forty first one but due to the deadly cold, she missed and he was taken prisoner…
Maryutka was ordered to take the officer across the Aral sea to the headquarters but the severe winter storm sunk their boat so they find themselves on the desert island like Robinson Crusoe and girl Friday…
Two incompatible cultures clash but the primal call of physiology is stronger and wins…
In the tumult of universal hatred and enmity their love is naturally doomed but myriads of little tragedies like theirs add up into the greatest tragedy of the nation.
For a brief moment the glittering encirclement of Cossack sabres was cut through on the north by a jet of machine-gun fire, and in a last wild effort the crimson Yevsukov plunged through the breach.
Those who escaped from the death-ring in the sands of the hollow were: the crimson Yevsukov, twenty-three of his men, and Maryutka.
The heroine of the story – Maryutka – is a brave young girl…
Maryutka was an orphan from a fishing village hidden among the reeds of the vast Volga delta near Astrakhan. For twelve years, beginning at the age of seven, she had sat astride a bench stained with fish entrails, ripping open the slippery grey bellies of herring.
She is a true combatant and in spite of being as slender as a reed, she can defend herself from anyone…
One night a Magyar named Gucsa, who had recently joined their detachment and had been casting longing glances at her for some days, stole up to where she was lying. It ended badly. The Magyar crawled away minus three teeth and plus a big lump on his forehead. Maryutka had created him to the butt-end of her revolver.
The girl has a fame of a sharpshooter and she had already shot forty White officers so the hero of the tale should have been her forty first one but due to the deadly cold, she missed and he was taken prisoner…
As he raised his head Yevsukov and his men were struck by the blazing blueness of his eyes, as if two balls of the finest French bluing were floating in snow-white suds.
Maryutka was ordered to take the officer across the Aral sea to the headquarters but the severe winter storm sunk their boat so they find themselves on the desert island like Robinson Crusoe and girl Friday…
Two incompatible cultures clash but the primal call of physiology is stronger and wins…
Lieutenant of the Guards Govorukha-Otrok was to have been the forty-first on Maryutka’s death list.
He became first in her list of joys.
She developed a tender yearning for him, for his slender hands, for his soft voice, and above all, for his extraordinary blue eyes.
In the tumult of universal hatred and enmity their love is naturally doomed but myriads of little tragedies like theirs add up into the greatest tragedy of the nation.
January 23, 2025
zammit
July 10, 2022
نوفيلا شاعرية من زمن الحرب الأهلية في القيصرية الروسية ما بين الجيش الأحمر والأبيض. الرواية على الرغم من حمولتها المؤدلجة بالشيوعية لم تكن سخيفة وكانت محاولة حقيقية لسبر أغوار النفس البشرية وحقيقتها في الصراع ما بين بطلة الرواية ماريا المنتمية للجيش الأحمر وما بين حبيبها المنتمي للمعسكر الآخر والصراع النفسي الداخلي لكلا منهما برغم قصر الرواية. الرواية تم تمثيلها في فيلم سنة ١٩٥٦ بنفس عنوان الرواية الطلقة الواحدة والأربعون.
November 26, 2016
Cannot make an accurate and fair evaluation of the literariness of this book because I read it in Chinese and it was a translation done in the 50s. But, alas, the story is the most powerful I've ever read. The ending is so tremendously tragic, sweeping and profound that I cannot even bear to finish the movie. Perhaps my favorite war story?
October 24, 2012
A cautionary tale.
March 6, 2020
Short story. Co-existence of class contradiction and love.
Didn't find a good enough English translation. So I put the ending in its original language below, which left a very deep impression on my mind when I first finished reading it in my childhood.
> В воде на розовой нити нерва колыхался выбитый из орбиты глаз. Синий, как море, шарик смотрел на нее недоуменно-жалостно.
Она шлепнулась коленями в воду, попыталась приподнять мертвую, изуродованную голову и вдруг упала на труп, колотясь, пачкая лицо в багровых сгустках, и завыла низким, гнетущим воем:
– Родненький мой! Что ж я наделала? Очнись, болезный мой! Синеглаазенький!
С врезавшегося в песок баркаса смотрели остолбенелые люди.
Didn't find a good enough English translation. So I put the ending in its original language below, which left a very deep impression on my mind when I first finished reading it in my childhood.
> В воде на розовой нити нерва колыхался выбитый из орбиты глаз. Синий, как море, шарик смотрел на нее недоуменно-жалостно.
Она шлепнулась коленями в воду, попыталась приподнять мертвую, изуродованную голову и вдруг упала на труп, колотясь, пачкая лицо в багровых сгустках, и завыла низким, гнетущим воем:
– Родненький мой! Что ж я наделала? Очнись, болезный мой! Синеглаазенький!
С врезавшегося в песок баркаса смотрели остолбенелые люди.
July 26, 2025
Оуууу гаддэмн окей с чего бы начать…..
Во время прочтения этого рассказа, размером плюс-минус в 100 страниц, я прошла все стадии эмоциональных качелей. В начале было жутко интересно насчет всего описанного военного события и описания главной героини, в середине даже побеспокоилась насчет трагичного сюжетного поворота, а в конце ( т.е после прочтения) тупо смотрела в стенку от неожиданной концовки. Iykyk
В каком-то смысле эту книгу можно назвать enemies-to-lovers. С очень скорбным концом.
P.S SOXUMI MENTIONED 🦅🦅🦅🇬🇪🇬🇪🇬🇪🇬🇪🍷🍷
Во время прочтения этого рассказа, размером плюс-минус в 100 страниц, я прошла все стадии эмоциональных качелей. В начале было жутко интересно насчет всего описанного военного события и описания главной героини, в середине даже побеспокоилась насчет трагичного сюжетного поворота, а в конце ( т.е после прочтения) тупо смотрела в стенку от неожиданной концовки. Iykyk
В каком-то смысле эту книгу можно назвать enemies-to-lovers. С очень скорбным концом.
P.S SOXUMI MENTIONED 🦅🦅🦅🇬🇪🇬🇪🇬🇪🇬🇪🍷🍷
June 13, 2017
I read this book 30 years ago as a kid. I remember the plot and story line vaguely as also the tense romance between Maria and her 41st aim (she is a successful sniper till 40th). But more than that what I found funny was her swearing - "a fish's diseases", that was translated quite funnily in to Hindi as "Machchli ka haiza" (she is a fisherman's daughter).
I used that swearword later in life hoping I would encounter someone who has read the same book. But to date, never found anyone.
I used that swearword later in life hoping I would encounter someone who has read the same book. But to date, never found anyone.
March 23, 2023
خوب بود
دوستش داشتم
ارزش یه بار خوندنو داشت
مرده شورش را ببرد
دوستش داشتم
ارزش یه بار خوندنو داشت
مرده شورش را ببرد
May 28, 2023
کوتاه و جذاب و لذت بخش
November 6, 2025
তিনটি গল্পই অসাধারণ। তবে প্রথম আর শেষ গল্প দুইটা মনে দাগ কেটে গেলো।
March 23, 2017
Очень классно написано.
В детстве смотрел фильм по этой книге, поэтому в общих чертах помнил сюжет и окончание. А глаза всё равно на мокром месте стали после прочтения.
Гражданская война - это всегда страшно и больно. Автору удалось поместить эти эмоции в небольшую повесть о любви и смерти двоих молодых людей.
Прочитайте сами, не пожалеете.
В детстве смотрел фильм по этой книге, поэтому в общих чертах помнил сюжет и окончание. А глаза всё равно на мокром месте стали после прочтения.
Гражданская война - это всегда страшно и больно. Автору удалось поместить эти эмоции в небольшую повесть о любви и смерти двоих молодых людей.
Прочитайте сами, не пожалеете.
April 17, 2018
Me pareció una lectura muy amena. Si ya te hablan de guerra se puede imaginar cómo terminan las cosas, el primer cuento me sorprendió mucho. También se entiende de la revolución en Rusia, la recomiendo. Este es un libro que encontré entre los muchos que hay en el librero de mi abuela 🤗.
December 13, 2014
Read it in Arabic, great short stories ,cried when the prisoner of mayorka died .
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews