Petersburg

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful. The best novel I have read. Period.
Review: A strangly comical story about the chaos and absurdity of Russian life and politics circa 1905. It tells the story of a Russian family at odds with itself. The main characters are an aristocratic father, his politically rebellious son, the estranged wife, a back-stabbing political party, the "Red Domino", and a ticking bomb....!!! Warning: The prose is somewhat a slow read as it takes time to get used to the Symbolists style of writing. If you can get through the first 30 pages you won't regret it. This book has not been called the best Novel of the 20th century for nothing !!!

Rating:
Summary: Between Banality and Chaos
Review: I cannot subscribe to the notion that this is one of the best novels of the 20th century. Without the 62 pages of notes, it would be at best baffling, at worst incomprehensible to anyone not well-versed in Russian history and literature. The plot is wildly convoluted, often farcical. The prose occasionally soars, then veers off into baroque excess, then falls flat on its face.
The translators tackled a daunting task rendering puns, word play and obscure allusions into intelligible English while tracking down all the factual information necessary to an understanding of the novel.

Paging back and forth constantly between the text, the notes, and the city map of Petersburg, I nevertheless gained a vivid impression of the political and social ferment in Petersburg at the time of the 1905 Revolution. There are some familiar archetypes: the bureaucratic despot of a father and the outwardly pliant, secretly rebellious, neurasthenic son; the bored society matron who seeks excitement in the company of anarchists; the confused "upstart intellectual" nurtured on Marx and Nietzsche, yearning to align himself with some "great cause". (Interestingly, the revolutionaries and potential terrorists in this setting are often the sons of priests - another familiar pattern).

Under the weight of current events, I welcome any device that offers a glimpse into the minds of terrorists, apostate religious leaders, fanatic cult followers and manipulators of public opinion ( the way DeLillo's Mao II does in a different context). In this respect, "Petersburg" provides some valuable insights.

Rating:
Summary: Astounding
Review: I have been obliged to read this book for two different classes, but please don't dismiss it out of hand as "academic." Although brilliantly inventive (suggesting that ideas are more "real" than reality, that objects themselves can assume their own lives in the mind's eye, using the city itself as a character) the real importance of this book is the humanity. It is funny, familiar, and achingly beautiful. It's a coming of age tale, a dying of age tale, a commentary on revolution, change, and family. Also, it gets better if you read it again: I wouldn't be at this site or writing this review if I hadn't mauled my copy with multiple readings and incessant scribbling in the margins. Buy the Malmstead edition; the Penguin's just so-so. Buy it! Don't make me come over there!

Rating:
Summary: A brilliantly original and enchanting novel.
Review: I'm sorry, but I apparently disagree with Nabokov. While an interesting read, "Petersburg" is confusing to the point of absurdity (not in a good way) and ultimately not very enlighting. When thought of in the context of the Revolution of 1905, Bely's occult beliefs, etc., the novel is slightly more interesting but still not worth the time and mental effort required to read it. Some might say I'm missing something, but I would say their looking too hard. You'd be better off actually reading "Ulysses" or, if you want some Russian, "Brothers Karamazov" or some Chekhov.

Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece.
Review: One of the great modern novels, as revolutionary in its way as Ulysses or At Swim Two Birds, it dazzles with humor, allusion, wit, imagery...It's a distinct advantage to know a bit about Russian culture and to have visited the city of the title.

Having read the original prior to reading this translation, I feel this book lends itself poorly to translation; the translators do a decent job but the nature and essence of Bely's art is quite inextricable from the Russian language; still, a glimpse of the quality of the original can be had.