Research Catalog

Title

Sentimental tales / Mikhail Zoshchenko ; translated by Boris Dralyuk.

Author

Zoshchenko, Mikhail, 1895-1958

Publication

• New York : Columbia University Press, [2018]
• ©2018

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Dralyuk, Boris

Description

xx, 214 pages; 23 cm

Summary

"Mikhail Zoshchenko's Sentimental Tales are satirical portraits of small-town characters on the fringes of Soviet society in the first decade of Bolshevik rule. The tales are narrated by one Kolenkorov, who is anything but a model Soviet author: not only is he still attached to the era of the old regime, he is also, quite simply, not a very good writer. Shaped by Zoshchenko's masterful hands--he takes credit for editing the tales in a series of comic prefaces--Kolenkorov's prose is beautifully mangled, full of stylistic infelicities, overloaded flights of metaphor, tortured cliché, and misused bureaucratese, in the tradition of Gogol. Yet beneath Kolenkorov's intrusive narration and sublime blathering, the stories are genuinely moving. They tell tales of unrequited love and amorous misadventures among down-on-their-luck musicians, provincial damsels, aspiring poets, and liberal aristocrats hopelessly out of place in the new Russia, against a backdrop of overcrowded apartments, scheming, and daydreaming. Zoshchenko's deadpan style and sly ventriloquy mask a biting critique of Soviet life--and perhaps life in general. An original perspective on Soviet society in the 1920s and simply uproariously funny, Sentimental Tales at last shows Anglophone readers why Zoshchenko is considered among the greatest humorists of the Soviet era."--Amazon.com.

Series Statement

Russian library

Uniform Title

• Short stories. Selections. English (Dralyuk)
• Russian library (Columbia University. Press)

Alternative Title

Short stories.

Subjects

• Soviet Union
• Short stories, Russian
• Manners and customs
• Satire, Russian
• Russian wit and humor
• Translations
• Zoshchenko, Mikhail, 1895-1958 > Translations into English
• Satirical literature
• 1917-1970
• Humor
• Short stories, Russian > Translations into English
• Fiction
• Soviet Union > Social life and customs > 1917-1970 > Fiction

Genre/Form

• Satirical literature.
• Humor.
• Fiction.
• Translations.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references.

Contents

Introduction -- A note on the text -- Preface to the first edition -- Preface to the second edition -- Preface to the third edition -- Preface to the fourth edition -- Apollo and Tamara -- People -- A terrible night -- What the nightingle sang -- A merry adventure -- Lilacs in bloom.

Call Number

JFD 18-3706

ISBN

• 9780231183789
• 023118378X
• 9780231183796
• 0231183798

LCCN

2017054206

OCLC

1042813613

Author

Zoshchenko, Mikhail, 1895-1958, author.

Title

Sentimental tales / Mikhail Zoshchenko ; translated by Boris Dralyuk.

Publisher

New York : Columbia University Press, [2018]

Copyright Date

©2018

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Russian library

Russian library (Columbia University. Press)

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references.

Chronological Term

1917-1970

Added Author

Dralyuk, Boris, translator.

Translation Of:

Translation of : Zoshchenko, Mikhail, 1895-1958. Short stories. Selections.

Research Call Number

JFD 18-3706