Sascha Yegulev: Historia de un asesino

by Leonid Andreyev, Julio Figueroa (Translator)

(...) fue su muerte solitaria y terrible. Le dieron sepultura junto con malhechores y asesinos, cuyo destino había compartido por propia voluntad; murió maldito de los hombres, y nadie puso una cruz sobre su tumba desconocida. (...)

Sascha Yegulev es una de las más bellas novelas de la literatura rusa y la de mayor aliento de su autor, Leonid Andréiev. Obra maestra sobre el alma humana, la fuerza inexorable del destino y la inmensa tragedia que acecha y ensombrece la vida de los seres más nobles.

Genres: Russian Literature, Classics, Fiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1911

About the author

Leonid Nikolayevich Andreyev (Russian: Леонид Николаевич Андреев; 1871-1919) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who led the Expressionist movement in the national literature. He was active between the revolution of 1905 and the Communist revolution which finally overthrew the Tsarist government. His first story published was About a Poor Student, a narrative based upon his own experiences. It was not, however, until Gorky discovered him by stories appearing in the Moscow Courier and elsewhere that Andreyevs literary career really began. His first collection of stories appeared in 1901, and sold a quarter-million copies in short time. He was hailed as a new star in Russia, where his name soon became a byword. He published his short story, In the Fog in 1902. Although he started out in the Russian vein he soon startled his readers by his eccentricities, which grew even faster than his fame. His two best known stories may be The Red Laugh (1904) and The Seven Who Were Hanged (1908). His dramas include the Symbolist plays The Life of Man (1906), Tsar Hunger (1907), Black Masks (1908), Anathema (1909) and He Who Gets Slapped (1915).

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

The novel is a symbolist tragedy… And a wicked mockery of Maxim Gorky's Mother.
The world is a mosaic of destinies… Sashka Jigouleff’s destiny is a fate of a felon…

Love must be satisfied, tears must be quenched with tears. And when the soul of a great people is tormented by vague yearnings – life itself is upheaved, the spirit trembles and those who are pure in heart offer themselves as sacrifice. So it was with Sasha Pogodin, a youth beautiful and pure: he was chosen to calm the passions of men and soothe their pain, and his spirit was tuned to the call of Destiny – a call to which others are deaf; the golden cup was filled to the brim with the blood of his sacrifice. A man of sorrows and tender hearted, he was universally beloved for the beauty of his countenance and for his purity of purpose; and his soul was drained by the lips of the thirsty. He died early, died a terrible and solitary death; and he was buried together with murderers, whose fate he had chosen to share; and no one remembered him kindly and there is no cross over his nameless grave.

Sasha is a nice child… However he possesses no special talents… He grows up, studies and learns… His late father – a general – is a symbol of oppressive power and evil… Power must be annihilated… His kind mother – a widow – is a symbol of love and good… Love must be defended… He befriends a fanatical revolutionary… He wishes to sacrifice himself in the name of the enslaved people… But he doesn’t turn into a bomb thrower… He becomes a cutthroat and bandit…  Now his nom de guerre is Sashka Jigouleff…

The printing presses in the town roared mechanically, turning out no less mechanical reports of yesterday’s fires and yesterday’s damage. And the town people were distracted and weary in their vain attempts to pierce the darkness which lay beyond the lights of the town. It was dark out there. Something invisible was wandering in the darkness. Out there some lost soul, suffering under an unforgivable injury was wailing like a mortally wounded animal.

He who has no creative abilities becomes a destructive demon.

[Eba Munoz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deudor de sus maestros Tolstoi y Turgeniev, y de filósofos como Schoppenhauer y Nietzsche. Su prosa es naturalista y algo ruda en cierto sentido.
Siento que esta vez no he vibrado con la historia. Me ha faltado empatía, emoción desde el momento en que Sascha abandona el hogar. Aunque hay pasajes increíbles, el ritmo y la pericia me resultan desiguales y algo que me ha fastidiado en extremo son los títulos de cada capítulo, que te destripaban lo que iba a suceder. ¿De verdad era necesario titular cada capítulo con "La muerte de... (y el nombre del futuro muerto)? Y el final me ha dejado muy fría.
En fin, que no sé si repetiré con este autor teniendo a Chejov, Tolstoi, Dostoievski...
Nota: 7/10

[Mariana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This little edition of "Saschka Yegulev" by Leonidas Andreyev is part of the vintage collection of books I'm rescuing from my grandparent's house. This, as many others, was never read before. And when we meet, and I searched about it what I learned was that indeed is a book that not many have read nor is well known, or famous for saying. I can't recommend this book enough to all of you! IS A MASTERPIECE, REALLY, AMAZING!
The amount of feelings, thoughts, annotation, tears it provoked is only comparable with Anna Karenina so yes, you can say it is wonderful.
How Andreyev writes is just breathtaking, pure, sincere and heartbreaking. This story shows us not only the raw history of the Russian Revolution previous times, but also the love, the sorrow, the family bonds and the power of motherhood. Is hard to put in a few words all the themes and emotions this book explores. At the time it describes you the brutality of men and arms, it also shows us the purity and sweetness of a mother, the mother of a murderer, the mother, it shows us Russia.
Naturalistic realism, poetry, history... our main character explores themes of identity crisis, patriotism, fear, death, loss of innocence and loyalty. Love and death are always connected and I swear some quotes will destroy you.
Totally heartbreaking, please please read it! You will not regret it.

[Esteban · Rating 4 out of 5]

muy bueno

[Dima · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly important book, a century ahead of its time. In the first half we get to know Sasha Pogodin, who slowly gets radicalised and finds himself, gradually, deciding to become a terrorist, driven by both moral and personal reasons. This journey could have been written, I imagine, about most terrorists...
In the second half of the book we see Sasha Zhigulev, the psuedonim under which Sasha Pogodin operates, rise to fame as a terrorist group leader, and then quickly decline and dissipate, having found many of his perhaps naive hopes for a better future slowly erode.
The book is a dark and grim critique of the call for martyrdom and self-sacrifice that was common at the time among communist elites, and is not uncommon these days in some parts of the world. It is a stark reminder of the price one ways and the illusions that underpin naive decisions.
A must read for anyone trying to learn more about the early days of the Russian revolution, and anyone interested in understanding the psychology of terrorism, which, taken out of the contemporary context, is perhaps easier to understand in this novel.

[Cristian Castañeda · Rating 4 out of 5]

¿Un hombre bueno puede convertirse en bandolero? La respuesta a esta pregunta será sobre la que se desarolle la trama de esta obra. Sascha, un joven de buenas intenciones, que ve en la revolución una posibilidad de mejorar el mundo, será arrastrado por la avalancha de acontecimientos y terminará dirigiendo una banda de asaltadores de camino. La profunidad espiritual de las obras rusas está aquí nuevamente presente, aunque esta vez acompañada de una narración ágil y que prioriza las acciones.

[Γιώργος Μπελαούρης · Rating 5 out of 5]

το βιβλίο σου δηλώνει από την αρχή ότι ο ήρωας θα πεθάνει
ξεκινά με το ανώνυμο μνήμα που να πάρει
ε, δέκα σελίδες μετά, έχεις ξεχάσει την αρχή
αγαπάς, αγωνιάς και πονάς μαζί με τον σάσκα μέχρι το τέλος
πανέμορφο βιβλίο
ο αντρέγιεφ είναι σαν συμπτυγμένος ντοστογιέφσκι σε ατμόσφαιρα και συναισθήματα, αν κάποιος δεν έχει διαβάσει ντοστογιέφσκι και θέλει να πιάσει, θα του πρότεινα να ξεκινήσει από εδώ

[Alexander Theofanidis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Δεν είναι κακό, απλώς σου δίνει την εντύπωση ότι όλοι οι ρώσοι γράφανε σαν τον Ντοστογιέφσκι ανατέμνοντας ανθρώπινες ψυχές. Το οποίο επίσης δεν είναι κακό. Δεν ξέρω, διαβάστε το και βγάλτε άκρη μόνοι σας...