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Showing 1 - 22 of
22 matches in All Departments
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Wings (Paperback)
Mikhail Kuzmin; Translated by Hugh Aplin
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R428
R353
Discovery Miles 3 530
Save R75 (18%)
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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A key text in the history of gay literature, "Wings" was published
in 1906 to the scandalized reaction of contemporary society and the
generations which followed. Its central theme of aestheticized
sensuality has drawn comparisons with the work of contemporaries
Oscar Wilde and Andre Gide. The young Vanya Smurov is deeply
attached to his mentor, Dr. Larion Stroop, and to the world of
Renaissance art which the latter reveals to him. Initially appalled
by the sudden discovery of Stroop's homosexual leanings, Vanya
abandons him to pursue a "normal" heterosexual existence. In turn
disgusted by ensuing encounters, he returns to Dr. Stroop and
accompanies him to Italy where he begins his real education--both
in the world of art, and that of hedonism.
Russia's literary world is shaken to its foundations when a
mysterious gentleman - a professor of black magic - arrives in
Moscow, accompanied by a bizarre retinue of servants. It soon
becomes clear that he is the Devil himself, come to wreak havoc
among the cultural elite of a disbelieving capital. But the Devil's
mission quickly becomes entangled with the fate of the Master - a
man who has turned his back on his former life and taken refuge in
a lunatic asylum - and his past lover, Margarita. Both a satirical
romp and a daring analysis of the nature of good and evil,
innocence and guilt, The Master and Margarita is the crowning
achievement of one of the greatest Russian writers of the twentieth
century.
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A Dog's Heart (Paperback)
Mikhail Afanasevich Bulgakov; Translated by Hugh Aplin; Foreword by A.S. Byatt
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R344
R288
Discovery Miles 2 880
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Through his surreal, often grotesque humour, Bulgakov creates in
this book - a new translation of one of the most popular satires on
the Russian Revolution and on Soviet society - an ingenious new
twist to the 'Frankenstein' parable. Having been scalded by boiling
water earlier that day, and with little chance to survive the
severe winter night, a stray dog is left for dead on the streets.
Lamenting his fate, he is ill prepared for the chance arrival of a
wealthy professor who befriends him and takes him home. However, it
seems the professor's motives are not entirely altruistic - an
expert in medical experimentation, he sees his new charge as the
potential subject for a bizarre operation, and implants glands from
a dead criminal in the dog. The resulting half-man, half-beast is,
as to be expected, a monstrosity, yet one that fits in remarkably
well with Soviet society...
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The Double (Paperback)
Fyodor Dostoevsky; Translated by Hugh Aplin
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R222
R182
Discovery Miles 1 820
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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Constantly rebuffed from the social circles he aspires to frequent,
the timid clerk Golyadkin is confronted by the sudden appearance of
his double, a more brazen, confident and socially successful
version of himself, who abuses and victimizes the original. As he
is increasingly persecuted, Golyadkin finds his social, romantic
and professional life unravelling, in a spiral that leads to a
catastrophic denouement. The Double, Dostoevsky's second published
work of fiction, which foreshadows in its themes many of his mature
novels, is the surreal and hallucinatory tale of an unfortunate
anti-hero, at once chilling in its depiction of the dark sides of
human nature and exuberantly comical.
In this collection of short stories, drawing heavily from the
author's own experiences as a medical graduate on the eve of the
Russian Revolution, Bulgakov describes a young doctor's turbulent
and often brutal introduction to his practice in the backward
village of Muryovo. Using a sharply realistic and humorous style,
Bulgakov reveals his doubts about his own competence and the
immense burden of responsibility, as he deals with a superstitious
and poorly educated people struggling to enter the modern age. This
acclaimed collection contains some of Bulgakov's most personal and
insightful observations on youth, isolation and progress.
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The Forged Coupon (Paperback)
Leo Tolstoy; Translated by Hugh Aplin
1
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R245
R198
Discovery Miles 1 980
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In order to repay a small debt, the young student Mitya is persuaded by a friend to falsify a bank bond and cash it in. Little does he suspect that this small misdemeanour will have a profound impact on the lives of many other people around him - indirectly even leading to the gravest of crimes. This in turn sets off a long journey towards redemption and rehabilitation. Published only in 1911, after Tolstoy's death, The Forged Coupon examines the deep, unpredictable consequences of every human act, revealing the Russian master's moral preoccupations in the last years of his life, as well as his rejection of Christianity's simplistic division between good and evil.
Inspired by Dostoevsky's own gambling addiction and written under
pressure in order to pay off his creditors and retain his rights to
his literary legacy, The Gambler is set in the casino of the
fictional German spa town of Roulettenburg and follows the
misfortunes of the young tutor Alexei Ivanovich. As he succumbs to
the temptations of the roulette table, he finds himself engaged in
a battle of wills with Polina, the woman he unrequitedly loves.
With an unforgettable cast of fellow gamblers and figures from
European high society, this darkly comic novel of greed and
self-destruction reveals Dostoevsky at his satirical and
psychological best.
A secret terrorist group infiltrates the household of a government
official's son, with a view to spying on the father and,
ultimately, assassinating him. But the young man entrusted with the
task - an ailing, world-weary "nobody" - seized with the
purposelessness of life and a sense of his own impending death,
gradually becomes disillusioned with his mission, and decides to
embark on a new path which will lead him to tragedy. Combining
psychological detail with a strong sense of place and time, The
Story of a Nobody bears all the hallmarks of Chekhov's genius, and
perfectly captures the political and social tensions of its day.
The most widely staged dramatist after Shakespeare, Chekhov left a
deep mark both on the development of Russian literature and world
theatre, with plays that were remarkable not just for their
dialogue but their atmosphere and the tensions expressed between
the lines. Collected in this volume are Chekhov's four most
celebrated plays - The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and The
Cherry Orchard - in a brand-new translation by Hugh Aplin. In these
personal stories of unfulfilled love, failed ambition and
existential ennui, set against a background of unsettling social
and economical change, the reader can appreciate the groundbreaking
qualities of Chekhov's theatrical genius.
The judge Ivan Ilyich Golovin has spent his life in the pursuit of
wealth and status, devoting himself obsessively to work and often
neglecting his family in the process. When, after a small accident,
he fails to make the expected recovery, it gradually becomes clear
that he is soon to die. Ivan Ilyich then starts to question the
futility and barrenness of his previous existence, realizing to his
horror, as he grapples with the meaning of life and death, that he
is totally alone. Included in this volume is another celebrated
novella by Tolstoy, The Devil, which addresses the conflicts
between desire, social norms and personal conscience, providing at
the same time a further exploration of human fear and obsession.
In Bulgakov's 'Diaboliad', the modest and unassuming office clerk
Korotkov is summarily sacked for a trifling error from his job at
the Main Central Depot of Match Materials, and tries to seek out
his newly assigned superior, responsible for his dismissal. His
quest through the labyrinth of Soviet bureaucracy takes on the
increasingly surreal dimensions of a nightmare. This early
satirical story, reminiscent of Gogol and Dostoevsky, was first
published in 1924 and incurred the wrath of pro-Soviet critics.
Along with the three other stories in this volume, which also
explore the themes of the absurd and bizarre, it provides a
fascinating glimpse into the artistic development of the author of
The Master and Margarita.
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Morphine (Paperback)
Mikhail Afanasevich Bulgakov; Translated by Hugh Aplin
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R295
R234
Discovery Miles 2 340
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Young Dr. Bromgard has come to a small country town to assume a new
practice. No sooner has he arrived than he receives word that a
colleague, Dr. Polyakov, has fallen gravely ill. Before Bromgard
can go to his friend's aid, Polyakov is brought to his practice in
the middle of the night with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and,
barely conscious, gives Bromgard his journal before dying. What
Bromgard uncovers in the entries is Polyakov's uncontrollable and
merciless descent into morphine addiction - his first injection to
ease his back pain, the thrill of the drug as it overtakes him, the
looming signs of addiction, and the feverish final entries before
his death.
When the rich land owner Velchaninov arrives in St Petersburg, he receives a surprise visit from an old acquaintance, Trusotsky, who has been recently widowed. His late wife, Natalia, was the secret lover of Velchaninov, who realizes that the young child accompanying Trusotsky is his natural daughter. From then on, the destinies of the two men become intertwined as they engage - at turns repelled and attracted by each other - in a dangerous game of cat and mouse that will lead to a final dramatic confrontation. Compelling, gripping, darkly humorous, The Eternal Husband - composed by the author at the peak of his writing powers, between The Idiot and Devils, and described by Dostoevsky's biographer Joseph Frank as 'a small masterpiece' - shows Dostoevsky at his best as a ruthless dissector of the quirks and foibles of the human character.
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The Mother (Paperback)
Maxim Gorky; Translated by Hugh Aplin
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R326
R270
Discovery Miles 2 700
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Inspired by real events and centring on the figure of Pelageya
Vlasova - the mother of the title - and her son Pavel, Gorky's
masterpiece describes the brutal life of ordinary Russian factory
workers in the years leading to the 1905 Revolution and explores
the rise of the proletariat, the role of women in society and the
lower classes' struggle for self-affirmation. A book of the utmost
importance, in the words of Lenin, and a landmark in Russian
literature, The Mother - here presented in a brilliant new version
by Hugh Aplin, the first English translation in almost a century -
will enchant modern readers both for its historical significance
and its intrinsic value as a work of art.
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The Village (Paperback)
Ivan Bunin; Translated by Hugh Aplin, Gayla Aplin
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R278
R226
Discovery Miles 2 260
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The Village, Ivan Bunin's first full-length novel, is a bleak and
uncompromising portrayal of rural life in south-west Russia. Set at
the time of the 1905 Revolution and centring on episodes in the
lives of a landowner and his self-educated peasant brother, the
book follows characters sunk so far below the average of
intelligence as to be scarcely human. A triumph of bitter realism,
Bunin's cruel, lyrical prose reveals the pettiness, violence and
ignorance of life on the land, foreshadowing the turbulences of
Russia in the twentieth century.
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We (Paperback)
Yevgeny Zamyatin; Translated by Hugh Aplin
1
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R276
R242
Discovery Miles 2 420
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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We takes place in a distant future, where humans are forced to
submit their wills to the requirements of the state, under the rule
of the all-powerful Benefactor, and dreams are regarded as a sign
of mental illness. In a city of straight lines, protected by green
walls and a glass dome, a spaceship is being built in order to
spearhead the conquest of new planets. Its chief engineer, a man
called D-503, keeps a journal of his life and activities: to his
mathematical mind everything seems to make sense and proceed as it
should, until a chance encounter with a woman threatens to shatter
the very foundations of the world he lives in. Written in a highly
charged, direct and concise style, Zamyatin's 1921 seminal novel -
here presented in Hugh Aplin's crisp translation - is not only an
indictment of the Soviet Russia of his time and a precursor of the
works of Orwell and the dystopian genre, but also a prefiguration
of much of twentieth-century history and a harbinger of the ominous
future that may still lay ahead of us.
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In the Twilight (Paperback)
Anton Chekhov; Translated by Hugh Aplin
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R254
R208
Discovery Miles 2 080
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In the Twilight, the third collection of short stories compiled by
Anton Chekhov himself, was his first major success and won him the
prestigious Pushkin Prize when it was published in 1888. This
volume represents a clear milestone in the writer's passage from
the youthful Antosha Chekhonte, author of slight comic sketches, to
the mature master of the short-story genre. This edition presents
the sixteen tales of the original collection - ranging from
well-known and acknowledged gems such as 'Agafya' and 'On the Road'
to others which will be fresh even to many seasoned readers of
Chekhov - in a brand-new translation by Hugh Aplin, providing an
invaluable glimpse into a pivotal moment in the writer's literary
career.
While at a party organized by the local landowner for the officers
of his brigade, the shy and awkward Ryabovich is suddenly kissed by
an unknown woman in a dark room. This unexpected, electrifying
encounter, which he relives in his mind day after day, marks a
turning point for Ryabovich, showing him that everything in life -
joy, sorrow, hope - is equally pointless and subject to chance. One
of Chekhov's most admired stories, 'The Kiss' is joined in this
volume by six other celebrated tales in a new translation by Hugh
Aplin: 'The Lady with the Little Dog', 'Ward Six', 'The Black
Monk', 'The House with a Mezzanine', 'The Bishop' and 'Peasants' -
making this an indispensable collection for those wanting to
discover Chekhov at his creative best.
In a series of nine letters, the narrator tells his friend how he
introduced Vera Nikolayevna, a married woman who had been forbidden
as a child to read fiction and poetry, to the intellectual
pleasures of Goethe's masterpiece. Opening up in front of Vera's
eyes is not only the realm of imagination, but also a world of
unbridled feelings and tempestuous passions, which can only shatter
the comfort and safety of her existence and force her to set off on
a journey of spiritual awakening.
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Poor People (Paperback)
Fyodor Dostoevsky; Translated by Hugh Aplin
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R255
R209
Discovery Miles 2 090
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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Presented as a series of letters between the humble copying clerk
Devushkin and a distant relative of his, the young Varenka, Poor
People brings to the fore the underclass of St Petersburg, who live
at the margins of society in the most appalling conditions and
abject poverty. As Devushkin tries to help Varenka improve her
plight by selling anything he can, he is reduced to even more
desperate circumstances and seeks refuge in alcohol, looking on
helplessly as the object of his impossible love is taken away from
him. Introducing the first in a long line of underground
characters, Poor People, Dostoevsky's first full-length work of
fiction, is a poignant, tragi-comic tale which foreshadows the
greatness of his later novels.
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Dark Avenues (Paperback)
Ivan Bunin; Translated by Hugh Aplin
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R324
R268
Discovery Miles 2 680
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Considered one of the most influential authors of twentieth century
Russian Literature, Ivan Bunin's "Dark Avenues" is the culmination
of a life's work which unrelentingly questioned of the political
doxa whilst taking his poetic mastery of language to dark new
heights. Written between 1938 and 1944 and set in the context of a
disintegrating Russian culture, this collection of short fiction
centres around dark, erotic liaisons told with a rich, elegaic
poetics which probes the artistic limits of depicting desire.A
prolific writer and fierce political activist, Bunin became the
first Russian to win the Nobel prize for Literature in 1933 and was
highly influential on his contemporary Russian emigres, Checkov and
Nabokov. The "Dark Avenues" is the zenith of his work and one of
the most important Russian texts to come out of the twentieth
century.
As the young Zinaida and her sweetheart, the student Nemovetsky,
stroll through the idyllic Russian countryside, their memories,
dreams and thoughts about life and the future mingle in the evening
breeze. But when night falls, they hasten to retrace their steps
back to town through a small wood, where they are accosted by three
threatening drunkards, who knock Nemovetsky unconscious and start
to chase the girl through the underwood. When the young student
comes round, he is confronted with the horror of what has just
happened. Haunting, disquieting, shocking, `The Abyss' - one of the
most powerful short stories ever written - is accompanied in this
volume by fifteen other stories, never translated into English
before by Andreyev, including `Silence', `The Thief' and `Lazarus,
some of them never translated before into English. Together, they
provide a clear account of the lasting legacy of Russia's foremost
man of letters of the early twentieth century.
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R398
R330
Discovery Miles 3 300
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