O Norte e Outros Contos

by Yevgeny Zamyatin, Nina Guerra (Translator), Filipe Guerra (Translator)

O Norte e Outros Contos reúne uma corajosa carta dirigida a Estaline e dez textos escritos entre 1912 e 1929, antes do exílio do autor em França. Num tempo de arte por decreto e de esperados elogios à Revolução Russa, o autor legava-nos linhas em tudo opostas ao almejado retrato do progresso. Tomando a pulso a vida de um país numa encruzilhada da história, Zamiatine, em prol da verdade, esmerava-se a traçar poéticos retratos de dramas humanos («Inundação»), mesclando ambientes oníricos e tradições de um povo destroçado e alheado dos seus mandantes («O Norte»), a jocosa denúncia social da burocracia («O Xis») e a inépcia dos homens nos novos papéis que a história lhes atribui («O Amparo dos Pecadores»). Nestes contos coroados por uma imaginação prodigiosa que converte cidades de utopia revolucionária em mais realistas e escuras cavernas pré-históricas («A Caverna»), Zamiatine dá voz e um lugar central ao homem.

Genres: Fiction, Russia

304 pages, Paperback

Published February 1, 2017

About the author

Yevgeny Zamyatin (Russian: Евгений Замятин, sometimes also seen spelled Eugene Zamiatin) Russian novelist, playwright, short story writer, and essayist, whose famous anti-utopia (1924, We) prefigured Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1932), and inspired George Orwell's 1984 (1949). The book was considered a "malicious slander on socialism" in the Soviet Union, and it was not until 1988 when Zamyatin was rehabilitated. In the English-speaking world We has appeared in several translations.

"And then, just the way it was this morning in the hangar, I saw again, as though right then for the first time in my life, I saw everything: the unalterably straight streets, the sparkling glass of the sidewalks, the divine parallelepipeds of the transparent dwellings, the squared harmony of our gray-blue ranks. And so I felt that I - not generations of people, but I myself - I had conquered the old God and the old life, I myself had created all this, and I'm like a tower, I'm afraid to move my elbow for fear of shattering the walls, the cupolas, the machines..." (from We, trans. by Clarence Brown)
Yevgeny Ivanovich Zamyatin was born in the provincial town of Lebedian, some two hundred miles south of Moscow. His father was an Orthodox priest and schoolmaster, and his mother a musician. He attended Progymnasium in Lebedian and gymnasium in Voronezh. From 1902 to 1908 he studied naval engineering at St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute. While still a student, he joined the Bolshevik Party. In 1905 he made a study trip in the Near East. Due to his revolutionary activities Zamyatin was arrested in 1905 and exiled. His first short story, 'Odin' (1908), was drew on his experiences in prison.
Zamyatin applied to Stalin for permission to emigrate in 1931 and lived in Paris until his death.

Reviews

[Fernando Pestana da Costa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short stories by the author of the dystopian novel "We". I particularly liked three stories: "Sobre a Cura Milagrosa do Noviço Erasmo", "A História da Mais Importante Coisa", and, on top of them all, "A Caverna", written in 1920, and a really gloomy story about the dreadful living conditions in Petrograd in the first years of Soviet rule.

[Aurora · Rating 1 out of 5]

Faltam-me 2 contos para acabar o livro, ao Xis a Inundação, mas estou tão cansada deste livro que, pelo menos para já, vou desistir dele.

Não gostei da escrita e nenhuma história ficou na memória.

[Paulo Santos · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book, the stories are strong and beautifully written. It's very Russian, not as good as Tchékhov, but still moving and engaging.

[João Cruz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carta a Estaline e outros contos, alguns deles muito críticos do regime comunista na URSS nos anos 20 do séc. XX. Muito frio e muita miséria.