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Selected Stories
A.F. Veltman (1800-1870), a prolific but largely forgotten nineteenth-century Russian writer, played a significant role in the development of Russian literature. Once of the most popular prose writers in Russia in the 1830s and 1840s, his work influenced Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, and many others. The five stories in this collection will give the non-Russian reader a brief but representative sampling of Veltman's considerable literary output.
190 pages, Paperback
First published June 10, 1998
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February 24, 2016
A.F. Veltman (1800 – 1870) was a “prolific but largely forgotten nineteenth-century Russian writer.”
On Veltman (from Wikipedia):
You know that moment in The French Lieutenant's Woman? The moment? (if you don't know what moment I'm talking about then you've obviously never read The French Lieutenant's Woman, and shame on you for that) Well, Veltman basically has that moment in the first short story in this collection (Erodita). Now, it's not quite as Meta as the Fowles moment, but the story was written in 1835, so some leniency has to be granted here. Also, as it's contained in a short story, it is a smaller moment. But, still, it's surprising to see it here, considering the date of the story's composition. The first story also utilizes a clever framing device to open the story, has some funny moments, and ends very oddly. I like "oddly".
Roland the Furious is pretty funny and manages to be structurally interesting towards the end of the piece. Title is in reference to a drama version of Orlando Furioso staged during the course of the story, which is neat considering how much I love Orlando Furioso. The story relies on mistaken identity in much the same way as Erodita, but to much better effect. A strong piece
Travel Impressions and, Among Other Things, a Pot of Geraniums is good until it’s great. The end of the story is kind of ludicrously batshit crazy, and I’m not sure at the moment if it’s supposed to be read as written, or if I’m to take that it ends as a dream (and no, that doesn’t actually spoil anything). I’m going to believe it’s all 100% literal, because it’s too delightful to take it any other way.
A Traveller from the Provinces; or, A Commotion in the Capital is probably the most straightforward work of the collection, but is still a strong piece of satire, focusing on the vagaries of public acclaim and their ability to crown a writer a “genius” in one moment and forget him in the next. The piece has a strong Ilf and Petrov vibe going on throughout it (of course, it precedes their work by a number of decades).
The last piece in the collection, It’s Not a House, but a Plaything! incorporates Russian folklore into the tale – apparently something that Veltman did in a lot of his writing – to great effect. The basic premise of the story is that, at one point, every house in Moscow contained “House Spirits” (domovoi) – but all but two were lost when Moscow burned during the French invasion. The remaining two live in the two houses that escaped the fire, and are both in the periphery of, and are the focus of, the story. The story also manages to incorporate a bit of literary history, and includes both Pushkin, and his friend who famously had a dollhouse made as a replica of his house, down to all of the furnishing (the story attempts to provide an explanation for this behavior).
I really enjoyed this collection, and it made me wish that more of Veltman’s stuff was available in translation. I’m especially interested in the incorporation of a culture's mythology and folklore into its literature, and it sounds like that was one of the themes that Veltman liked to pursue. Hopefully something else someday becomes available.
On Veltman (from Wikipedia):
Boris Yakovlevich Bukhshtab, in his 1963 article "Pervye romany Vel'tmana" (Veltman's earliest novels), wrote: "In the history of Russian literature there is no other writer who, having enjoyed as much popularity in his own time as Vel'tman, so rapidly disappeared into complete oblivion." However, he has always had influential defenders. Tolstoy called him lively and exact, with "no exaggeration", and said that at times he was better than Gogol; Dostoevsky was a champion of his work, and Joseph Frank, Dostoevsky's biographer, called him "one of the most original novelists of the 1830s".During the course of his life he wrote “fourteen novels, 15 prose tales, and numerous other pieces in prose, verse, and dramatic form". Despite the prodigious output, and the documented praise of some of the giants of Russian literature, the five stories contained in this book are the extent of his work that has been translated into English. And really, that’s a damn shame. I’m not saying that any of this stuff is amazing, but it’s all good to great, and each piece manages to have some odd flourish that sets it apart from almost anyone else writing at the time.
You know that moment in The French Lieutenant's Woman? The moment? (if you don't know what moment I'm talking about then you've obviously never read The French Lieutenant's Woman, and shame on you for that) Well, Veltman basically has that moment in the first short story in this collection (Erodita). Now, it's not quite as Meta as the Fowles moment, but the story was written in 1835, so some leniency has to be granted here. Also, as it's contained in a short story, it is a smaller moment. But, still, it's surprising to see it here, considering the date of the story's composition. The first story also utilizes a clever framing device to open the story, has some funny moments, and ends very oddly. I like "oddly".
Roland the Furious is pretty funny and manages to be structurally interesting towards the end of the piece. Title is in reference to a drama version of Orlando Furioso staged during the course of the story, which is neat considering how much I love Orlando Furioso. The story relies on mistaken identity in much the same way as Erodita, but to much better effect. A strong piece
Travel Impressions and, Among Other Things, a Pot of Geraniums is good until it’s great. The end of the story is kind of ludicrously batshit crazy, and I’m not sure at the moment if it’s supposed to be read as written, or if I’m to take that it ends as a dream (and no, that doesn’t actually spoil anything). I’m going to believe it’s all 100% literal, because it’s too delightful to take it any other way.
A Traveller from the Provinces; or, A Commotion in the Capital is probably the most straightforward work of the collection, but is still a strong piece of satire, focusing on the vagaries of public acclaim and their ability to crown a writer a “genius” in one moment and forget him in the next. The piece has a strong Ilf and Petrov vibe going on throughout it (of course, it precedes their work by a number of decades).
The last piece in the collection, It’s Not a House, but a Plaything! incorporates Russian folklore into the tale – apparently something that Veltman did in a lot of his writing – to great effect. The basic premise of the story is that, at one point, every house in Moscow contained “House Spirits” (domovoi) – but all but two were lost when Moscow burned during the French invasion. The remaining two live in the two houses that escaped the fire, and are both in the periphery of, and are the focus of, the story. The story also manages to incorporate a bit of literary history, and includes both Pushkin, and his friend who famously had a dollhouse made as a replica of his house, down to all of the furnishing (the story attempts to provide an explanation for this behavior).
I really enjoyed this collection, and it made me wish that more of Veltman’s stuff was available in translation. I’m especially interested in the incorporation of a culture's mythology and folklore into its literature, and it sounds like that was one of the themes that Veltman liked to pursue. Hopefully something else someday becomes available.
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