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Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not
used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad
quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are
images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to
keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the
original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain
imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made
available for future generations to enjoy.
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not
used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad
quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are
images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to
keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the
original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain
imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made
available for future generations to enjoy.
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not
used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad
quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are
images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to
keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the
original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain
imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made
available for future generations to enjoy.
First published in 1859, Oblomov is an indisputable classic of
Russian literature, comparable in its stature to such masterpieces
as Gogol's Dead Souls, Tolstoy's Anna Karenina and Dostoevsky's
Brothers Karamazov. The book centres on the figure of Ilya Ilyich
Oblomov, a member of the dying class of the landed gentry, who
spends most of his time lying in bed gazing at life in an apathetic
daze, encouraged by his equally lazy servant Zakhar and routinely
swindled by his acquaintances. But this torpid existence comes to
an end when, spurred on by his crumbling finances, the love of a
woman and the reproaches of his friend, the hard-working Stoltz,
Oblomov finds that he must engage with the real world and face up
to his commitments. Rich in situational comedy, psychological
complexity and social satire, Oblomov - here presented in Stephen
Pearl's award-winning translation, the first major English-language
version of the novel in more than fifty years - is a timeless novel
and a monument to human idleness.
It is a winter evening, and Yegor Aduyev, the scion of a wealthy
family from the landed gentry, slips into the house of Baron
Neilein with the intention of asking his beautiful daughter, the
eighteen-year-old Yelena, to be his wife. Will the besotted lover
be successful in his pursuit or will the young coquette – who
seems at times to reciprocate his feelings, but who lavished
lingering looks on two dashing princes during a recent ball –
shatter his hopes, his dreams and his entire world? A Serendipitous
Error, an early novella of 1839, written when Goncharov was still
in his twenties, is accompanied here by Two Incidents at Sea, a
story penned almost twenty years later and based on two dangerous
scrapes the author survived during his recent voyage on the frigate
Pallada. Taken together, these two stories – translated for the
first time into English by Stephen Pearl – are further proof of
the eclectic narrative skills of the celebrated author of Oblomov.
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An Uncommon Story (Paperback)
Ivan Goncharov; Translated by Stephen Pearl
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R288
R236
Discovery Miles 2 360
Save R52 (18%)
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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Goncharov was the leading Russian writer of the 1850s and, as the
author of The Same Old Story, was regarded as “the real heir to
Nikolai Gogol”. But the publication of Turgenev’s first
full-length novel, A Nest of the Gentry, in 1859, at around the
same time as Goncharov’s Oblomov, which had been more than ten
years in the making, suddenly changed the public’s perception.
Turgenev’s success was eyed with suspicion by his rival, who
started to believe that his work in progress, Malinovka Heights,
had been plagiarized by his former friend. Goncharov had in fact
discussed in detail with Turgenev the plot of his new novel, and
the latter later admitted that, being very impressionable, he may
have been influenced by some of its elements, but his friend’s
charges went further: he accused the younger writer of stealing his
ideas, his characters and even some of his plotlines. As
Turgenev’s success increased over the years, so did Goncharov’s
resentment, and the two novelists, although later reconciled,
stopped communicating with each other. An Uncommon Story, published
posthumously in 1924, contrary to its author’s wishes, is an
extraordinary document that lays bare the jealousies felt but
rarely expressed by writers, and an eternal monument to literary
paranoia.
Filled with dreams of pursuing a career as a poet, the young
Alexander Aduev moves from the country to St Petersburg, where he
takes up lodgings next to his uncle Pyotr, a shrewd and world-weary
businessman. As his ideals are challenged by disappointment in the
fields of love, friendship and poetical ambition, Alexander must
decide whether to return to the homely values he has left behind or
adapt to the ruthless rules and morals of city life. Told in the
author's trademark humorous style and presented in a sparkling new
translation by Stephen Pearl, The Same Old Story - Goncharov's
first novel, preceding his masterpiece Oblomov by twelve years - is
a study of lost illusions and rude spiritual awakening in the
modern world.
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