Viaje sentimental. Memorias 1917-1922. Crónicas de la revolución rusa

by Victor Shklovsky, Víktor Shklovski

Rare Book

Genres: Russia, Russian Literature, Nonfiction, Memoir, History, Classics, Biography Memoir

392 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1923

About the author

Viktor Borisovich Shklovsky (Russian: Виктор Борисович Шкловский) was a Soviet literary theorist, critic, writer, and pamphleteer.

Reviews

[Vit Babenco]

“I am the Revolution, I’m young and I feel fine. My mother is Anarchy, my father is Port Wine.” A Revolutionary Couplet.
Victor Shklovsky had sarcastically borrowed the title from Laurence Sterne… Actually, the journey is wild, savage and ferocious… Up to the knees in muck and blood…

Our armored car rushed pellmell through the city. The dark streets were alive with people, standing around in small groups. They said that the police were shooting here and there.
They had been standing on the Sampsonievsky Bridge, had seen some policemen, but the police hadn’t succeeded in shooting at them: they had all scattered. In some places people were already breaking into wine cellars.

A Sentimental Journey is a journey through chaos and anarchy… Already on the first day of the February Revolution, the rifled wine was flowing like a river…
A Sentimental Journey is a journey through cruelty, hunger, agony, wretchedness and endless death…

After the explosion, the soldiers, surrounded by enemies and waiting for the rolling stock, began to collect and put together the bodies of their friends that had been torn into pieces.
This took a long time.
Of course, many body parts got confused. An officer went up to a long row of corpses lying side by side.
The final corpse was assembled from leftover pieces.
He had the trunk of a big man. Attached to it was a small head, and on his breast, there were two small uneven arms, both of them left.
The officer looked at this for quite a while, then he sat down upon the earth, and roared, and roared, and roared with laughter…

The revolution isn’t the end… After it there comes the horror of the civil war…

The train carried several wagons of coffins with black inscriptions in tar, in quick cursive writing:
COFFINS BACK
If you die, they’ll bring you to Kursk and bury you in a burned down forest. The coffin goes back. Recycling.
We came to a station and saw a passenger train packed with people, with compressed masses. They were climbing into the windows, which was dangerous: others could take your boots off while you were climbing in.
First, I was sitting on the buffer; an abundance of people was on the roofs; Russia flowing somewhere, slowly like black pitch.

Revolutions are monsters that give birth to dictators.

[Laurent De Maertelaer]

Uniek tijdsdocument van formalist Sjklovski over de gebeurtenissen in Rusland tussen 1919 en 1923. In een fragmentarische stijl die mij deed denken aan Malaparte’s ‘De huid’ beschrijft Sjklovski de hel van de revolutie en de burgeroorlog.

[Jonfaith]

Much like the author's nod to Sterne, this is what can be described as a masterful shambles. The narrative itself is egregiously spliced in the best sense: as if the pages were shuffled or scattered by a mischievous nephew, and as Shklovsky is warned: when you're hiding in the library and the Cheka arrive, pretend you're paper and rustle.

Shlovsky gives us accounts of his experience in an armored car cadre in the Great War as well as a little-known military expedition to Persia; he also vividly describes his time in Petersburg during the time of Revolution and NEP as well as his life on the lam from both the Reds and Whites up to and including his exile in Berlin. His Journey is a probable high mark for gallows humor and he rejects the tenets of Social Realism in his account. Particularly effective are his ruminations on the lethality of cold and hunger--much less well armed ideological foes, especially those primed for a timely pogrom. Despite a number of pages which suffer from exposition, I highly recommend this to both literary and historical bends.

[Buck]

I'd always been vaguely aware of Shklovsky as a dull-sounding Russian Formalist who wrote something - didn't he? - about 'estrangement' in Tolstoy. Well, I didn't know the half of it. This guy was waist-deep in the muck of history, first wading in via WWI and the Russian revolution, then floundering in even deeper during the civil war, before prudently extricating himself and crossing the ice into Finland one winter's day. Casual slaughter, mass lunacy, depravity, starvation: this period of Russian history was one long horror show. Shklovsky was there. He lived it. What's more, HE GOT IT ALL DOWN. Here it is: still fresh as hell, seething with a fine ironic disdain, all terse and fragmentary and 'avant-garde', always self-aware and self-reflexive in the best po-mo traditions (a good thirty years before the fact), but, for all that, a deeply humane book by a humane and brilliant man.

[La Lettrice Solitaria]

Sklovskij non era uno scrittore, bensì un teorico dell'arte... ma aveva la storia della sua vita da raccontare e lo fa magistralmente in questo diario personalissimo in cui narra gli eventi tra il 1919 e il 1922 in cui è stato in fuga a seguito della Rivoluzione Russa. Il suo viaggio copre varie tappe, dalla Russia alla Germania ed è frammentato ma ricco di osservazioni poetiche meravigliose. Non di rado si trova a parlare dei suoi lavori coi gli amici formalisti e artisti con cui lavorò per l'OPOYAZ e per la Casa dell'arte a San Pietroburgo. E' bello vedere e leggere la vita vera di un personaggio storico studiato tra i libri universitari in questa veste reale. I libri universitari mi hanno raccontato di come il Formalismo fu un movimento breve ma intenso, carico di potenzialità ma che si esaurì all'alba della Rivoluzione anche perché molti teorici furono messi a tacere, e che poi confluì nelle sue migliori rese nello Strutturalismo.
Questo libro invece racconta come Sklovskij lavorò, in che condizioni terribili riuscì nonostante tutto a scrivere le sue opere, a continuare a leggere e studiare, nonostante morisse di freddo, fame, nonostante una pallottola all'intestino, nonostante la fuga costante dalla Ceka, dai bolscevichi, dalla guerra contro i tedeschi... Sklovskij amava cantare mentre scriveva! Questo i libri universitari non lo raccontano :)

Ho letto molti altri libri su questo argomento, molti dei quali autobiografici, ma questo è stato sicuramente uno dei meno crudi e più improntato alla ricerca di evocazione della memoria, dei ricordi e del senso della vita, piuttosto che alla descrizione nuda e cruda degli orrori della guerra.

[Sara Zovko]

Knjiga imena Sentimentalno putovanje ne sadrži u sebi ništa sentimentalno, čak suprotno. Pisac piše o svojim danima na bojišnici, danima kad je sudjelovao u ratu kao da piše o tome kako je išao do dućana po namirnice. Čak i kad spominje kako je sudjelovao u bitkama i ubijao ljude, sve mi je to djelovalo previše hladno, kao da se dogodilo nekom drugom. Ubio sam čovjeka, spomene tek tako, kao usput.

[Derek]

I’m getting worried that people have now translated everything Shklovsky has written, but I hope that is not the case. I’m addicted to his erudition, theoretical insights, familiarity with all the most interesting Russian intellectuals of his era, and stylistic originality. And of course he wrote this memoir in one of the most interesting if also traumatic periods in Russian history.

[Griffin Alexander]

An amazing and exhaustive chronicle of Shklovsky hauling ass all over the mid-east, Russia, and the Caucuses from World War I through the revolution and up til the end of the Russian Civil War. My favorite part is that while he is involved as an anti-bolshevik leftist (he was a Socialist Revolutionary), on the run, and involved with blowing up bridges, hiding out, and you know, FIGHTING A WAR, he is also hard at work writing his book on "plot as literary device." This is a great indicator of the multiple levels at which everything here is working on—a greater witness to historic events and their analysis you'd be hardpressed to find. Though of course he admits that history is about power and not actually about truth, so you know. . .

[Kai Weber]

"All my life consists of fragments linked only by my habits" expresses the main character not only of Shklovky's life, but also of his autobiographical account of the years 1917 to 1922. In view of the chaos of the times he lived in - First World War, the Russian Revolutions of 1917, the following civil war, the famines and cold winters - Shklovsky's style is laconic and everything but sentimental. Contrary to what a reader might expect from a book by one of the most important literary theorists of Russian Formalism, reflections on literature and theory take only very little space here. The topic most often spoken about here is army or militia life.
Stilistically the most vivid trait is juxtaposition. Shklovsky does not explain, he does not justify himself or others, but he activates reflections by the way he assembles the aforementioned fragments, linked by his habits, which include his writing and style. A book that looks simple only at first glance.

[Dino]

È una lettura ostica, perché non è un romanzo, né un racconto: è il pensiero, spesso destrutturato, che è uscito dal corpo di Šklovskij e si è materializzato sulle pagine di un libro.
Non riesco a immaginare come Šklovskij come possa averlo scritto se non di getto, ma questo è stato chiaramente impossibile.
Comunque sia, qui si trovano descrizioni tra le più impressionanti della Russia nel periodo a cavallo della Rivoluzione, tra la 1’ Guerra Mondiale e il 1921. Io ho letto diversi libri storici sulla Rivoluzione, ma nessuno di essi riesce a rappresentare la sofferenza e lo strazio degli umani come ha fatto Šklovskij.
E si trovano descrizioni uniche di quella terra magnifica e martoriata contesa tra Persiani, Assiri, Armeni, Curdi e Turchi assieme a Russi e Inglesi che sta attorno al lago di Urmia, di cui proprio ora leggiamo le tragiche notizie sul suo prosciugamento. Terre e popoli centrali nella storia della civiltà e di cui ora poco ci viene detto.

[Janet]

Futurist Shklovsky during the years of the Russian Revolution and Civil War, non-linear, vivid, funny as hell.

[Danny Jacobs]

Een absolute aanrader. De voorbije weken las ik Sentimentele reis van Viktor Sjklovski. Ik weet niet hoe het me overkomt, maar dit is weer een boek dat je met mondjesmaat moet verorberen. Sjklovski dan … wat een leven had die man tussen 1919 en 1923. In het eerste deel, 'Front en revolutie', schildert Sjklovski het eerste revolutiejaar. In het tweede deel, 'Aan de schrijftafel', volgen zijn avonturen tijdens de burgeroorlog en in Perzië, Petersburg, Finland en Duitsland. Het is een uniek verslag van de Russische revolutie, de jaren van de burgeroorlog en de voor-stalinistische periode van maatschappelijke en culturele vernieuwing en experiment. Origineel verschenen in 1923. De Nederlandse vertaling uit de reeks privé-domein verscheen in 1980, deze editie vond ik in een antiquariaat - een anoniem schuurtje- nabij Vaals.

[Maurizio Manco]

"Io sono soltanto una pietra che cade.
Una pietra che cade, e cadendo può accendere una lanterna per vedere dove va a finire." (p. 167)

"La vita fluisce in frammenti discontinui, appartenenti a sistemi diversi.
È solo il nostro abito, non il corpo, a tenere insieme istanti di vita isolati." (p. 226)

[Geoff]

Sorry Viktor, I'm distracted, but I promise a fast return...

[Mullmuzzler]

Excelente crónica de viva voz de un participante de la Revolución Rusa, llena de detalles y anécdotas que hacen de este libro más una especie de diario que un relato novelado como se sugiere en el prefacio, por lo cual la narrativa se sienta muy fidedigna, todo desde la perspectiva del autor. Nos encontramos con narraciones objetivas y en extremo detalladas de sus vivencias en este periodo donde viajó por Persia, Ucrania, Rusia y el Cáucaso. En todo momento se percibe una narración muy descriptiva pero sin ser aburrida, en general luce muy objetiva ya que a pesar de que vemos la opinión del autor en muchos momentos, en lo referente a las descripciones de los hechos es muy parco y conciso, incluso cuando describe las crueles atrocidades cometidas y los horrores de la guerra así como la trágica vida que se vivía en esas regiones el autor lo menciona con una simpleza que simplemente reflejaba la crudeza del momento. Un libro muy interesante, lleno de nombres y referentes literarios en literatura Rusa, como los hermanos de Serapión, este grupo de intelectuales que se reunía en una congregación de escritores e intelectuales rusos encabezados por Máximo Gorki. Impactante también conocer un poco de los conflictos milenarios que hay en la región de Persia y Turquía donde al parecer han existido situaciones muy tensas y permanentes conflictos entre diversos grupos como los Kurdos y Asirios. Un libro que por momentos se vuelve abrumador y un poco difícil de seguir por el peculiar estilo tan parco del autor y donde brinca constantemente de una historia a otra pero sin perder la cohesión en la narrativa. Obra no sencilla pero muy interesante para comprender incluso algunas de las situaciones actuales entre Rusia y Ucrania, unas memorias llenas de valor histórico. La reseña es sobre la versión física en pasta blanda solo que el detalle en Goodreads viene más completo para la versión Kindle.

[Chris]

A bizarre book. Normally when you read something from the time of the Russian Revolution, it is propaganda from the Red or White side. Shklovsky offers an interesting jaundiced point-of-view that is sympathetic to the revolution but not adhering to any particular point of view, even though he would become a well-known screenwriter for many classic Soviet films.

The narrative meanders about, just as Shklovsky does while trying to command a regiment during a war no one wants to be fighting while a revolution ignites far from the front. The ambling narrative well emulates the torpor and aimlessness of war. This makes the book difficult to continue reading since it never gathers any momentum to carry you along. Furthermore, it is written with an associative logic as if we are entering Shklovsky's memories that drift between the war, publishing, friendships, and other past occurrences.

I kept thinking this book would be interesting to adapt to the screen if some plot could be concocted to anchor it on. The details and random observations make the book worth reading, providing accounts of war and revolution you have not heard before.

Some examples:

While looting a village, a committee member asks, "Comrades, what are you doing? Is this really the way to fight capitalism?"
"On the face of one corpse, a cat was sitting, all bristled up, awkwardly gnawing at the cheeks with its small mouth."
The Bolsheviks: "They wanted to organize everything so that the sun would rise on schedule and the weather would be made in their chancellery."

Check it out if you are hopelessly curious about the Russian revolution and learning about it from an unexpected angle.

[Otto]

Eine interessante autobiografische Erzählung aus der Zeit der russischen Revolution. Ironisch-lakonisch, möglicherweise aber nur nach außen hin, beschreibt Schklowskij die Wirren der Zeit, die Turbulenzen des russischen Bürgerkrieges, die Gräuel gegen Gegner und Zivilbevölkerung, den Antisemitismus. Schklowskij war intensiv in all die Handlungen involviert, kämpfte und kommandierte, hatte zu flüchten, konnte zurückkehren. Immer wieder spürt man die Verbundenheit zu Russland aber auch den kritischen Blick auf die Vorgänge in seinem Land. In dem beschriebenen Zeitraum war Schklowskij auf der Seite der Gegner der Bolschewiken, er muss den Roman auch in finnischem Exil und später in Berlin fertigschreiben. Später arrangierte er sich mit dem stalinistisch-kommunistischen Regime, kehrte in sein Heimatland zurück und starb dort hochbetagt.
Als Zeitzeugnis hat mich das Werk interessiert, literarisch hat es durchaus auch seine interessanten Seiten, v.a. der immer wieder gebrochene Erzählstrom, durchaus teilweise assoziativ, wie das Denken und v.a. das rückblickende Denken halt so verläuft.
Näheres zum Roman wieder im Perlentaucher https://www.perlentaucher.de/buch/vik... und die Rezension aus der Süddeutschen zugänglich in bücher.de https://www.buecher.de/shop/leipzig/s...
Man muss auch die Übersetzung durch Olga Radetzkaja lobend erwähnen!

[Piret Dahl]

Ma ei tea enam, miks ma seda raamatut lugema hakkasin. Ju siis keegi soovitas - Loomingu Raamatukogud on mul riiulis olemas, aga mul pole kombeks sealt midagi huupi välja sikutada, saati siis midagi, mis räägib revolutsioonist ja rindest ja mille autor on venelane. Igatahes vedeles see "Sentimentaalne teekond" mul voodi kõrval selles virnas, kus ma hoian pooleliolevaid raamatuid ja mingil hetkel jõudis paratamatult kätte hetk, kui ma seda ka lugeda püüdsin. Justnimelt püüdsin, sest jutt käib tõesti revolutsioonist ja rindest ja - nagu kooliajal ajalootundides - on kõik väga segane. Kes õieti mille poolt ja kelle vastu võitleb? Kõik kõikide vastu? Kelle poolt on siis õieti minategelane, Šklovski ise? No see jäi lõpuni segaseks. Aga kui ma juba tüütuseni olin lugenud sõjast, näljast, lahingutest, relvadest ja surmast, tabas mind äkki mõni napp ja täpne lause, mis tõi sisse inimlikkuse. Nii et kui ma olin ennast esimesest paarikümnest leheküljest läbi närinud, hakkasin ma järsku teksti ilu ja meisterlikkust nägema. Ja no see oli kuni lõpuni nii. Liiga palju viletsust, ülekohut, lahinguid, nälga, külma, surma ja mõttetut võitlust. Ja napid, täpsed kujundlikud laused, mis paljastavad inimlikkuse kogu selle räpase tegelikkuse sees.
Kirjutatud 1921-1923, avaldatud Berliinis; tõlgitud Moskva 1929. aasta väljaandest. Loomingu Raamatukogus avaldatud 1969. Raamat, mis sobib tänasesse päeva nagu rusikas silmaauku.
Ava

[Marcelo Aguila Maldonado]

Un libro de memorias de un escritor, intelectual, oficial de ejercito, revolucionario... todo eso y más... un libro que cruza la primera guerra mundial, la revolución y la guerra civil. pero no es un libro de historia, es un libro experimental donde importa tanto lo que se narra como la forma de narrar... a veces se hace un poco pesado, sobretodo por la interminable e innecesaria lista de nombres, casi todos escritores, poetas, editores o críticos que comparten las desventuras del autor.
Es un testimonio de una época abrumadora. La confusión de la guerra, el sin sentido, el frío, el hambre y la muerte, siempre la muerte, gente que se asesina solo para probar las armas, niños que se abandonan a su suerte en medio del desierto durante una huida desesperada, pogromos, etc.
Sobresale el relato de su experiencia en Persia, la descripción de pueblos que se masacran mutuamente, asirios, persas, turcos, kurdos y armenios pasándose a cuchillo a la primera oportunidad por razones étnicas o religiosas, musulmanes sunitas o chiitas, cristianos ortodoxos o maronitas, aliados en ocasiones, enemigos casi siempre.
Y en el medio, muy rara vez, alguien que protege, que ayuda, que cuida a un desconocido a riesgo de su propia vida.
Un libro recomendable, pero difícil de leer, con muchos saltos temporales, reiteraciones y digresiones que lo hacen algo confuso.

[Sasha Chewohin]

Тупой и пригодный для политики человек. Говорить не умеет. Например, увидит тебя с женщиной и спрашивает: «Это ваша любимая женщина?» Как-то не по-живому, вроде канцелярского: «имеющая быть посланной бумага». Не знаю — понятно ли. Если не понятно, то идите разговаривать с Семеновым; от него вас не покоробит.

Я решил в этом месте рассказать про Алексея Максимовича Пешкова — Максима Горького.С этим высоким человеком, носящим ежик, немного сутулым, голубоглазым, по виду очень сильным, я познакомился еще в 1915 году в «Летописи».

Привет типографиям. В наборных было холодно, а шрифт холодит руки. Дымно. Головы наборщиков закутаны платками. Холодно так, что вал печатной машины замер и не хочет идти плавно, а прыгает, накатывая краску. Краска… нет краски, печатаем чуть ли не водой. А книги издавали неплохо. Умели работать люди. В типографии любят книги, и хороший метранпаж не выпустит плохо сверстанной книги. Люди, которые умеют работать, всегда хорошие люди.

Там есть неожиданные фразы, поворачивающие весь смысл рассказа. С Лесковым он связан не так тесно, как это кажется. Может писать вне Лескова, так, например, он написал «Рыбью самку». Когда его книгу дали в типографию набрать корпусом, наборщики набрали ее самовольно цицеро.

[Juan]

Crónica que parece más un diario desordenado que una novela, sobre la primera guerra mundial y la revolución rusa escrita de primera mano.
Se puede resumir bastante bien en palabras del propio autor:
"Vaya, no describo más que miserias. Qué agotador ; Acaso no había entonces en nuestro ejército, entre miles de centenares de hombres, nada bueno, luminoso?
Sí. lo había. Pero la situación de nuestras tropas, la falta de una mínima ilusión, del mínimo amor propio, el profundo desánimo, la propensión al sabotaje como único medio para precipitar el fin de la guerra, todo esto hacía aflorar no precisamente lo mejor, sino lo más rastrero de la naturaleza humana. El culpable, claro, no era el pueblo ruso, o, mejor dicho, el pueblo no era el primero en la lista de culpables."

[Liva]

Darbs, kas balansē uz ļoti smalkas robežas starp vēstures faktu uzskaites grāmatu un vēsturiskās prozas darbu. Izvēloties lasīšanai šo grāmatu, es sagaidīju vairāk kara laika sadzīves aprakstu, vairāk personīgu emociju, ikdienas. Zināmā mērā es to arī saņēmu - karš nodedzina emocijas, grāmatas un mēbeles. Es varbūt gaidīju to, kā nemaz nebija šajā aprakstītajā piecu gadu periodā, kas aptver Pirmā pasaules kara beigas un pirmos pēc kara gadus.

https://lalksne.blogspot.com/2018/03/...

[Kaspars]

It kā personas memuāriem (atmiņu stāstam), būtu jābūt spilgtam un ar emocijām bagātam, it īpaši, ja stāstījums par konkrēto laika periodu (Pirmo pasaules karu Krievijā un revolūciju), tomēr stāstījums manā ieskatā bija pliekans un dažbrīd vairāk kā vēstures faktu pārskats.

Kopumā - varbūt vēstures faniem būs interesanti lasīt šo darbu, tomēr man personiski šī grāmata neuzrunāja.

[sophia herrera]

me re copó que el autor dividiera sus experiencias (y las de sus compañeros, como aquella carta) en diferentes cuentos. me asombró como se concentraba tanto en describir bellamente e incluso poéticamente el paisaje pero después meter las formas más brutales para describir las cosas que tenía que hacer en la guerra. ese contraste me pareció sublime

[Nina]

One of the most difficult books I’ve read in a long time. Lots of war, lots of confusion. And a little bit of Spinoza. (Not that I would have gotten the reference if I hadn’t read the intro.)

[Julia]

Первая мировая, российский фронт после революции, Украина, Персия. Все перевёрнуто с ног на голову.

Потрясающий эпизод о том, как Шкловский с сослуживцами взрывают часть деревянного моста (дать пройти плавучей батарее), он случайно загорается и сгорает целиком, на берегу злорадствуют весь город. Хитрая, тараканья нация, верит в свою живучесть, думает: "Большевики-то вымерзнут, а мы как-нибудь к весне и отойдём". Такими зарисовками нелепости "Путешествие..." полно. Судьба офицерства, антисемитизм армии при сорокапроцентной занятости комитетских постов евреями, дуэли, 20 правительств Украины.

Яркая, экзотичная Персия, война без противника.

И Петербург: Учредительное собрание было разогнано. Фронта не было. Вообще все было настежь. И быта никакого, одни обломки. Я не видал Октября, я не видал взрыва, если был взрыв. Я попал прямо в дыру. И в этой дыре - Блок, Гумилёв, Литературный Дом.

Видеть революционную Россию глазами революционера Шкловского (плюс литературоведа, писателя, профессора института истории искусств, участника антибольшевистского заговора) - удовольствие, сравнимое с первым посещением другого полушария.

[Sean]

I read this based a mention at Languagehat.com. I was hoping it would cover how people react in periods of revolution, which it did, but not how I thought. It's written in an experimental style that I didn't get into.

[Donald]

Brilliant, simply brilliant.

[Jennell McHugh]

Shklovsky accounts for an incredible time to be alive -- and to remain alive. This is suspenseful and terrifying mostly because it was unimagined.

[Emily]

shklovsky is one of the very few literary theorists who's also an incredible writer.

this book will also tell you the best place to throw bombs from during a revolution in an urban setting