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На японской войне
Викентий Викентьевич Вересаев (настоящая фамилия Смидович) - замечательный прозаик, публицист, поэт-переводчик. Его называют художником-историком русской интеллигенции. Что особенно ценно в творчестве писателя, - это глубокая правдивость в изображении общества, а также любовь ко всем, мятежно ищущим разрешения социально-нравственных вопросов. В качестве военного врача Вересаев в 1904-1905 годах участвовал в Русско-японской войне, события которой необычайно ярко и наглядно изобразил в записках НА ЯПОНСКОЙ ВОЙНЕ. По словам Максима Горького, эти трагические страницы нашей истории нашли в Вересаеве по-настоящему "трезвого, честного свидетеля".
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1906
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About the author
V.V. Veresaev
73 books4 followersVikenty Vikentyevich Veresaev (Russian: Викентий Викентьевич Вересаев; January 16, 1867 – June 3, 1945), was a Russian writer and medical doctor. His real last name was Smidovich (Russian: Смидович).
Veresaev was born in Tula, where his father was a doctor. After graduating from the Tula gymnasium in 1884, he attended Saint Petersburg University, taking a master's degree in history in 1888. He then enrolled in Derpt University and successfully completed a course in medicine. His first work to appear in print was a collection of poems in 1885. His first short story, The Puzzle, was published in 1887. In 1890 he toured the coal mines of Donetsk with his brother, gathering material for a collection of sketches called The Underground Kingdom, detailing the struggles and hardships of the exploited miners, which he published in 1892.
During the 1890s, Veresaev joined a group known as the Legal Marxists, and he published works in such journals as New Word, Inception and Life. During this period he wrote a cycle of works concerning the intelligentsia’s frame of mind at the turn of the 20th century, including the novella Without a Road (1895), the short story The Craze (1898) and the novella At the Turning Point (1902). He also wrote about the difficult position of the Russian peasantry, such as in the short story Lizar (1899) which was praised by Vladimir Lenin. His short story On a Dead-end Road (1896) and the novella Two Ends (1899–1903) were devoted to the life of the workers.
During the first decade of the 20th century Veresaev was a member of the Sreda (Wednesday) literary group and published his works in Maxim Gorky's Znanie collections. He published his most successful book, the semi-autobiographical Memoirs of a Physician in 1901, in which he sharply criticized the system of Russian medical education. In April 1901 he was dismissed from the hospital where he'd been working because of his political views, and was forbidden to live in Moscow or Saint Petersburg for a period of two years.
In 1904, at the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, he joined the army as a doctor. He told of his experiences in his book In the War, published in 1906. In this work he showed the heroism of Russian soldiers and officers and, at the same time, the corruption of the tsarist army.
Veresaev also wrote a long critical and philosophical work entitled Vital Life, the first book of which (1910) was devoted to a comparative analysis of Fyodor Dostoevsky (Man Accursed) and Leo Tolstoy (Long Live the Whole World!); the second book, Apollo and Dionysius (1915), was a critique of Friedrich Nietzsche's views. In 1911 Veresaev established the Pisately v Moskve Publishing House which he headed until 1918.
After the 1917 Revolution, which he welcomed, he devoted much of his time to cultural development and education. He also completed his cycle of works about the intelligentsia, including the novels In a Blind Alley (1922- translated into English as The Deadlock) and The Sisters (1933). He published his reminiscences In the Years of My Youth in 1927 and In My Student Years in 1929. He also translated works by ancient Greek and Roman authors, including Homer’s Hymns, Sappho, Archilochus and others. At the end of the 1930s he began to translate the Iliad (published in 1949) and the Odyssey (published in 1953).
For his outstanding achievements in the field of literature Veresaev was awarded the State Prize of the USSR in 1945. He was also awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour. He died in Moscow in June 1945.
Veresaev was born in Tula, where his father was a doctor. After graduating from the Tula gymnasium in 1884, he attended Saint Petersburg University, taking a master's degree in history in 1888. He then enrolled in Derpt University and successfully completed a course in medicine. His first work to appear in print was a collection of poems in 1885. His first short story, The Puzzle, was published in 1887. In 1890 he toured the coal mines of Donetsk with his brother, gathering material for a collection of sketches called The Underground Kingdom, detailing the struggles and hardships of the exploited miners, which he published in 1892.
During the 1890s, Veresaev joined a group known as the Legal Marxists, and he published works in such journals as New Word, Inception and Life. During this period he wrote a cycle of works concerning the intelligentsia’s frame of mind at the turn of the 20th century, including the novella Without a Road (1895), the short story The Craze (1898) and the novella At the Turning Point (1902). He also wrote about the difficult position of the Russian peasantry, such as in the short story Lizar (1899) which was praised by Vladimir Lenin. His short story On a Dead-end Road (1896) and the novella Two Ends (1899–1903) were devoted to the life of the workers.
During the first decade of the 20th century Veresaev was a member of the Sreda (Wednesday) literary group and published his works in Maxim Gorky's Znanie collections. He published his most successful book, the semi-autobiographical Memoirs of a Physician in 1901, in which he sharply criticized the system of Russian medical education. In April 1901 he was dismissed from the hospital where he'd been working because of his political views, and was forbidden to live in Moscow or Saint Petersburg for a period of two years.
In 1904, at the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, he joined the army as a doctor. He told of his experiences in his book In the War, published in 1906. In this work he showed the heroism of Russian soldiers and officers and, at the same time, the corruption of the tsarist army.
Veresaev also wrote a long critical and philosophical work entitled Vital Life, the first book of which (1910) was devoted to a comparative analysis of Fyodor Dostoevsky (Man Accursed) and Leo Tolstoy (Long Live the Whole World!); the second book, Apollo and Dionysius (1915), was a critique of Friedrich Nietzsche's views. In 1911 Veresaev established the Pisately v Moskve Publishing House which he headed until 1918.
After the 1917 Revolution, which he welcomed, he devoted much of his time to cultural development and education. He also completed his cycle of works about the intelligentsia, including the novels In a Blind Alley (1922- translated into English as The Deadlock) and The Sisters (1933). He published his reminiscences In the Years of My Youth in 1927 and In My Student Years in 1929. He also translated works by ancient Greek and Roman authors, including Homer’s Hymns, Sappho, Archilochus and others. At the end of the 1930s he began to translate the Iliad (published in 1949) and the Odyssey (published in 1953).
For his outstanding achievements in the field of literature Veresaev was awarded the State Prize of the USSR in 1945. He was also awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour. He died in Moscow in June 1945.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 5, 2024
Потрясающе точно. пропаганда властьимущих, отчаянье крестьянства. отступление, проигрыш, воровство в армии, куча орденов при отступлении, при том, что достижений ноль.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 11, 2022
Отличная книга.
Жаль, что пришлось читать с настроем в текущих обстоятельствах.
Жаль, что пришлось читать с настроем в текущих обстоятельствах.
December 31, 2023
Nothing has changed in the Russian army since begin of 20th century...
March 17, 2016
In the War is an honest and unromantic account of Russia's ill-advised war with Japan in 1904-5, written by a junior military surgeon who was already a man of letters. Anecdotal vignettes give you a clear idea of the ineptitude and callousness of the Russian authorities, the drunkeness and lack of commitment of the common soldier.
You get a real sense of a directionless country, with a ruling elite completely divorced and disinterested in the needs of both the war effort and the troops sent to fight it. In other words, a country rife for revolution.
Conscripted to the war effort, Veresaev finds himself hauled randomly across large areas of Manchuria in a traveling hospital, stopping and moving on without reason, sometimes close to the fray, just as often too far away to be of any help to the wounded.
The war makes no sense, has no 'idea' sustaining it. The logistics of the war effort are appalling, so much so that one leaitenant-colonel he meets asserts that "You may bring a million soldiers here, and there will be no victory even then".
Sultanov, the chief surgeon of one of the two hospitals Veresaev is assigned to, typifies the attitude of the men of influence who ran the war for Russia, completely uncommitted to his duties, merely concerned with feathering his own nest and using his position to appropriate funds and resources, like a child on a treasure hunt.
I only stumbled across this book by accident, but it's more insightful and truthful than many similar accounts I have read about WWI, which was a decade after the Russo-Japanese conflict.
Verasaev was an early communist, a friend of Lenin. Ironically, under Communism this unfurnished, truthful account would never have seen the light of day.
As for the author, well, he would have seen the insides of a Siberian salt mine.
You get a real sense of a directionless country, with a ruling elite completely divorced and disinterested in the needs of both the war effort and the troops sent to fight it. In other words, a country rife for revolution.
Conscripted to the war effort, Veresaev finds himself hauled randomly across large areas of Manchuria in a traveling hospital, stopping and moving on without reason, sometimes close to the fray, just as often too far away to be of any help to the wounded.
The war makes no sense, has no 'idea' sustaining it. The logistics of the war effort are appalling, so much so that one leaitenant-colonel he meets asserts that "You may bring a million soldiers here, and there will be no victory even then".
Sultanov, the chief surgeon of one of the two hospitals Veresaev is assigned to, typifies the attitude of the men of influence who ran the war for Russia, completely uncommitted to his duties, merely concerned with feathering his own nest and using his position to appropriate funds and resources, like a child on a treasure hunt.
I only stumbled across this book by accident, but it's more insightful and truthful than many similar accounts I have read about WWI, which was a decade after the Russo-Japanese conflict.
Verasaev was an early communist, a friend of Lenin. Ironically, under Communism this unfurnished, truthful account would never have seen the light of day.
As for the author, well, he would have seen the insides of a Siberian salt mine.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews