Mikhail Zoshchenko (1895–1958)

Михаил Зощенко известен в первую очередь как писатель сатирик, автор необыкновенно смешных рассказов и фельетонов. Его персонажи неоднозначны: наивные, даже простодушные, однако подчас способные и унизить, и оскорбить, а порой и убить, особенно если дело касается их show more собственности. И тем не менее они вызывают поистине гомерический хохот. В эту книгу, кроме избранных рассказов Зощенко, вошли произведения, показывающие его талант с других сторон. В цикле новелл "Голубая книга", который он называл "краткой историей человеческих отношений", рассказы о современности чередуются с рассказами о прошлом. Повести "Перед восходом солнца", исследование о подсознании человека, и "Возвращенная молодость", размышления о нравственном и физическом здоровье, - Зощенко считал своими главными произведениями. show less

‘’What do you think, Auntie, does man have a soul?’’

Mikhail Zoshchenko is considered one of the greatest Russian satirists, a genre that flourished in the country, especially during the Soviet era. The six stories of the collection are set during the first decade of the Bolshevik era but have very little to do with politics or the Revolution. Instead, characters tangible and familiar, with hopes, fears and regrets we all face, are the heart of each story. Zoshchenko uses the show more technique of the detached narrator-author, called Kolenkorov, who is our guide to the adventures and sentimental misfortunes and a slightly nostalgic lover of old Russia.

‘’What - is there a shortage of good facts in our lives?’’

The most beautiful tales are always the ones which narrate the hope of approval, love and understanding. This collection is no exception to this rule. The characters are primarily artists. Musicians, authors, poets, ballerinas mingle with members of the former upper-class that represent a world which has lost every privilege once taken for granted. The political and social upheaval is referred to in a subtle, cleverly satirical manner. Obviously, it is there, influencing the choices of the characters, shaping wealth and poverty (more often) and prospects but if we come to think about it, in the end it makes little difference to the women and men of the stories. For these are primarily tales of emotion and sentimental behaviour and these aren’t easily influenced by any political or social status quo. In addition, the author often draws an amusing, satirical comparison between Western and Russian Literature without any trace of malice or cynicism but with many valid observations.

My favourite story in the collection is called Apollo and Tamara. A talented pianist leaves to join the fight during the First World War. He returns only to find that the life he knew exists no more. This is a sad tale. Sad and unfair but beautiful.

Needless to say, this collection is highly recommended to every lover of Russian Literature.

‘’And in that case, he might as well jump under a tram.’’

Many thanks to Columbia University Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. show less

I must admit that I had never heard of Soviet writer Mikhail Zoshchenko (1894-1958) prior to coming across this book on NetGalley. I may be forgiven for this, given the dearth of translation of his works into English. It turns out that Zoshchenko’s short stories made him very popular with the public in the 1920s, but their peculiar brand of humour rendered their politics too ambiguous for the tastes of the regime. He weathered the frowns of the authorities for several years until he was show more expelled from the Soviet Writers’ Union in 1946 – a blow to his reputation and his health.

Mikhail Zoshchenko’s Sentimental Tales resorts to a technique which had been used by other Russian authors, including Gogol and Pushkin in works such as [b:Tales of Belkin|6697972|Tales of Belkin|Alexander Pushkin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320559853s/6697972.jpg|50747166] and "A History of the Village of Goryukhino”. In a meta-fictional approach which seems to foreshadow postmodern techniques, the stories are allegedly written by one Kolenkorov, a mediocre writer who strives, with limited success, to conform to the ideals of a “model Soviet artist”. As a result, the narration is deliberately clunky, replete with irrelevant details, overblown metaphors and inconsequential asides. This provides much of the humour, but it also serves as a cover for Zoshchenko. Melodramatic tales of tragic, unrequited love – which otherwise might have been considered too “sentimental” – are camouflaged by this comedic approach. More importantly, the farcical elements allow Zoshchenko to get away with biting social satire.

Such works need a sensitive translator to do them justice – hats off to Boris Dralyuk (who has already shown his mettle in other challenging translations for Penguin, Maclehouse Press and Pushkin Press amongst others). He manages to transpose the particular wit of Zoshchenko into English, making it accessible to us despite the differences in language and culture. show less

There are six short stories in this collection, all narrated by the same voice but otherwise unrelated. I thought they were all pretty much fine, but the narrator was a bit too rambly and meandering. I get that it's intentional, but it made everything just more tedious for me. I think I enjoy Zoshchenko's shorter short stories more than these. He's better when he's concise and focusing on the plot. Once all narratives actually got started I enjoyed all of them. They're veryyyy Russian in a show more way that I like. I also appreciated that a lot of the attractive women Zoshchenko describes are plump or large in a positive way. In a few of the stories, the narrator mentions that a larger woman is more attractive. He also described a woman with dark hairs on her upper lip as attractive, and I just thought that was nice. It felt very earnest and I just appreciate the representation. I don't know what the ideal beauty in the Soviet Union/Russia was at the time, if this narrator just had a type and it was supposed to be funny or if it was genuine but I don't care. It was nice. I also think Zoshchenko is good at ending his stories. They always feel sharp and intentional. He's obviously a great writer. I know there's veiled commentary in all of his work. Although I've studied some of his work in a Russian Lit class I took once, I don't have quite enough background knowledge to really think about it on my own. I can imagine it would be fun to discuss some of these stories with a group though. At face value they're all quite silly, but... yeah. They're good. I think maybe my aunt would like them. show less