De sprong naar het Zuiden

Повесть о жизни #5

by Konstantin Paustovsky, Wim Hartog (Translator), Konstantin Paustovskij

1968: by Konstantin Paustovsky- The setting is in Odessa, Russia and the living conditions are not good.

Genres: Russia, Autobiography

234 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Konstantin Georgiyevich Paustovsky was a Russian Soviet writer nominated for the Nobel Prize for literature in 1965.

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Konstantin arrived in Sukhum, Caucasus was a demonical brew of Soviet regime, feudalistic customs and post-revolutionary anarchy…

I went to the office of a small Sukhumi newspaper and there wrote a short and passionate article attacking the blood feud. The editor kept clicking his tongue as he read it.
‘We can’t publish it,’ he said at last and smacked his hand down on the manuscript. ‘You see, my dear fellow, one can’t take away from people what they are used to so suddenly. For thousands of years they’ve been carving each other up, my dear fellow, and then all of a sudden – finish, not allowed! You needn’t believe me, my dear fellow, but I swear by my daughter that the author of the article will be immediately murdered on the threshold of this office. You understand that I, as editor, can’t allow this to happen.’

Everything seems to be exotic and wonderful and in every town Konstantin works in the newspapers, accumulates impressions and life experience and learns the art of writing. In Batum he edits the seamen’s paper The Lighthouse and in Tiflis he stays with the futurist brothers, well-known in the Caucasus, called Zdanevich – the poet Ilya and the artist Kyril…

A great many books were strewn all over the house, slim volumes mainly, with strident titles and equally strident covers. They were covered with drawings of coloured semi-circles, women’s breasts and zig-zag rays.
The most popular book of poetry was the one with the title: ‘Flourish, poetry, you bitch!’ It was set up in every kind of type available in Tiflis – from poster to Pearl and from italics to
Elsevir. Words were separated by setting rules, rows of dots, letters borrowed from the Armenian, Georgian and Arab alphabets, musical notation printed upside down, question marks, coronets (blocks for these were kept in printing shops before the Revolution entirely for visiting cards), tail-pieces representing cupids and wreaths of roses.
I studied this book with a considerable amount of pleasure as a sort of collection of printer’s type.

And everywhere Konstantin meets a lot of interesting, unique and talented personalities… The most precious wealth of all the countries and nations is their people.

[Bas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Het wordt wat eentonig, maar ook dit vijfde deel is weer een genot om te lezen. In geuren en kleuren schetst Paustovski zijn omzwervingen.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book activitates your sense of smell, taste and sight, and your memory. Some great literature does that (Proust does, Babel does). Moreover, this book makes we want to run to the travel agent to book tickets to the Caucasus, though I'm pretty sure the fascinating world of the early 1920s that Paustovsky describes here only lives on in patches. A melancholic and sensuous report of an era in turmoil, by a man who was very hungry for life, and knew how to translate that feeling to paper.

[Sven Deroose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zijn tijd in Oekraïne, Georgië, Armenië. Zijn kennismaking met Pirosman. Pakkend laatste hoofdstuk.

[Wilco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Iets minder bijzonder dan de vorige 4 boeken uit de autobiografische serie, maar de taal blijft poëtisch, vooral mooie beschrijvingen van de natuur. Er gebeurde veel minder dan un de andere boeken.

[Anton Creemers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erg fijn om zijn omzwervingen in toch enigszins bekende streken op Paustovskis poëtische wijze mee te volgen

[Fransien Vandeweghe · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5 *

[Jos vdG · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wat een heerlijk geschreven autobiografisch tijdsbeeld van de zuidelijke regio in de Sovjetunie na de revolutie rond de jaren 20, vol vermakelijke, beeldende anekdotes.

[Lalagè · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Voor mij was toentertijd alles vreemd in Abchasië, de bergen, de rivieren, de plantengroei, de mensen. De reusachtige bergtoppen waarvan ik de namen nog niet kende, tekenden zich het scherpst af tijdens de zonsondergang. In het licht van de ondergaande zon gloeiden hun ijzige tanden als kolen. (…)
Deze eerste, enigszins onheilspellende indruk van de bergen veranderde pas in de lente toen ik diep in Abchasië doordrong en de bergen in hun volle schoonheid met hun beukenbossen, schuimende rivieren en wildwoekerende begroeiing aanschouwde.
Ik kende niemand in Soechoem en zwierf vaak in mijn eentje in de omgeving van de stad rond. Ik durfde niet ver weg te gaan."

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