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The Savage
Steamy work by the popular Russian novelist. Sex, murder, social injustice. What more could you want?
163 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2020
2 people want to read
About the author
Mikhail Artsybashev
126 books27 followersMikhail Petrovich Artsybashev (Russian: Михаил Петрович Арцыбашев) was a Russian writer and playwright, and a major proponent of the literary style known as naturalism. He was the great grandson of Tadeusz Kościuszko and the father of Boris Artzybasheff, who emigrated to the United States and became famous as an illustrator.
Artsybashev was born in Khutor Dubroslavovka, Akhtyrka Uezd, Kharkov Gubernia (currently Sumy Oblast, Ukraine). His father was a small landowner and a former officer. His mother died of tuberculosis when he was only 3 years old. He attended school in Okhtyrka until the age of 16. From 1895 to 1897 he was an office worker. He studied at the Kharkov School of Drawing and Art (1897–1898). During this time he lived in poverty, and was often unable to buy art supplies. In 1897 he attempted suicide. In 1898 he married Anna Vasilyevna Kobushko, with whom he had his son Boris. The couple separated in 1900.
In 1898 he relocated to Saint Petersburg, where he worked as a freelance journalist, and published humorous stories. In 1901 he was expelled from the city for taking part in a demonstration. He wrote his first important work of fiction, the story Pasha Tumanov in 1901, but was unable to publish it until 1905 due to its being banned by the censor.
He considered his novel The Death of Ivan Lande (1904) to be his best work, but his major success was the novel Sanin (1907), which scandalized his Russian readers and was prohibited in many countries. He wrote Sanin in 1903, but was unable to publish it until 1907, again due to censorship. The protagonist of the novel ignores all social conventions and specializes in seducing virgin country girls. In one notorious scene, a girl tries to wash embarrassing white stains off her dress after sexual intercourse with Sanin. The novel was written under the influence of the philosophy of Max Stirner, and was meant to expound the principles of Individualist anarchism.
He moved to Moscow in 1912. In 1917-18 he published his anti-Bolshevik work Notes of a Writer. In 1923 Artzybashev was granted Polish citizenship and emigrated to Poland, where he edited the newspaper For Liberty! (За свободу!). He was known as an irreconcilable enemy of the Bolshevik regime, and Soviet critics dubbed the novels of his followers saninstvo and artsybashevchina (both terms are considered derogatory). He died in Warsaw on March 3, 1927.
Artsybashev was born in Khutor Dubroslavovka, Akhtyrka Uezd, Kharkov Gubernia (currently Sumy Oblast, Ukraine). His father was a small landowner and a former officer. His mother died of tuberculosis when he was only 3 years old. He attended school in Okhtyrka until the age of 16. From 1895 to 1897 he was an office worker. He studied at the Kharkov School of Drawing and Art (1897–1898). During this time he lived in poverty, and was often unable to buy art supplies. In 1897 he attempted suicide. In 1898 he married Anna Vasilyevna Kobushko, with whom he had his son Boris. The couple separated in 1900.
In 1898 he relocated to Saint Petersburg, where he worked as a freelance journalist, and published humorous stories. In 1901 he was expelled from the city for taking part in a demonstration. He wrote his first important work of fiction, the story Pasha Tumanov in 1901, but was unable to publish it until 1905 due to its being banned by the censor.
He considered his novel The Death of Ivan Lande (1904) to be his best work, but his major success was the novel Sanin (1907), which scandalized his Russian readers and was prohibited in many countries. He wrote Sanin in 1903, but was unable to publish it until 1907, again due to censorship. The protagonist of the novel ignores all social conventions and specializes in seducing virgin country girls. In one notorious scene, a girl tries to wash embarrassing white stains off her dress after sexual intercourse with Sanin. The novel was written under the influence of the philosophy of Max Stirner, and was meant to expound the principles of Individualist anarchism.
He moved to Moscow in 1912. In 1917-18 he published his anti-Bolshevik work Notes of a Writer. In 1923 Artzybashev was granted Polish citizenship and emigrated to Poland, where he edited the newspaper For Liberty! (За свободу!). He was known as an irreconcilable enemy of the Bolshevik regime, and Soviet critics dubbed the novels of his followers saninstvo and artsybashevchina (both terms are considered derogatory). He died in Warsaw on March 3, 1927.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 7, 2022
This is a realist pot-boiler novel set in 1900s early Russia. It is quite a simple story about affluent Klim Dikoy (Dikoy is Russian for 'Savage'?) who marries much younger Glafia. Klim has an 'idiot' i.e. learning disabilities brother called Petenka and a middle brother Zakhar who falls for Glafia. The domestic turmoil of the affair leads to murder and a court case which is some ways is about both the murder and the underlying Russian mentality/society that led to it. It is a well written passionate, though not explicit, detail on the brutality of being in or out of love and ultimately has a 'who done it' unexpected thought provoking ending.
This book has been on my shelf for a while and when I spotted that the author was born in Ukraine in 1878 I thought it timely to read.
Quote "Meanwhile the peasants went on starving, dying of all kinds of diseases, propagating their species with incredible rapidity, ploughing the clay and sand, clearing forests, draining marshes, baking in the sun and freezing in the snow and - paying taxes"
Quote of the court's defense council describing his own Russian people "They are simply a horde of barbarians whose ideal has always been freedom of Anarchy, freedom to rob and murder. Perhaps the time is at hand which will convince us all of this, when the call to open robbery will lash this wild ocean into a storm and blood will spout to Heaven to the horror and amazement of Europe and the whole civilized world"
This version does have some evidence of being an OCR with the occasional mis-spelling, but nothing too drastic, and no page numbers.
This book has been on my shelf for a while and when I spotted that the author was born in Ukraine in 1878 I thought it timely to read.
Quote "Meanwhile the peasants went on starving, dying of all kinds of diseases, propagating their species with incredible rapidity, ploughing the clay and sand, clearing forests, draining marshes, baking in the sun and freezing in the snow and - paying taxes"
Quote of the court's defense council describing his own Russian people "They are simply a horde of barbarians whose ideal has always been freedom of Anarchy, freedom to rob and murder. Perhaps the time is at hand which will convince us all of this, when the call to open robbery will lash this wild ocean into a storm and blood will spout to Heaven to the horror and amazement of Europe and the whole civilized world"
This version does have some evidence of being an OCR with the occasional mis-spelling, but nothing too drastic, and no page numbers.
May 13, 2020
I don't even usually read this sort of thing, but I couldn't put it down.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews