CONSTANTIN FIEDIN: CITIES AND YEARS [1957].

Description

We present the first post-war edition of the novel “Cities and Years” (Russian: “Города и годы”) by Konstantin Fedin (1892-1977) – a prominent Soviet Russian novelist, member of the literary group “Serapion Brothers” . It was published in 1957 in Warsaw by the State Publishing Institute (PIW) in the prestigious series “Novels of the 20th Century”. It was translated from Russian by Jan Barski and Krystyna Latoniova.

“Cities and Years” is Fedin’s debut novel, completed in 1924 . It is one of the first and most important works of Soviet revolutionary prose. The author, who studied in Germany and returned to Russia after World War I , in his book addressed the fate of the Russian intelligentsia during World War I, the October Revolution and the Civil War.

The novel is set in Russia and Germany, and its protagonist, Andrei Startsov, is an artist and intellectual torn between the old cultural world and the new revolutionary reality. Fedin used an innovative fragmentary narrative in the work, jumping around in time and mixing plot plans, making the book one of the precursor works of the avant-garde in Soviet literature .

“Cities and Years” provoked a fierce controversy upon its publication in Soviet circles, which were accustomed to a more conventional historical narrative. Fedin’s formal experiments (reminiscent of the technique of film montage) were initially received coolly by critics, but over time their originality and influence on the development of 20th century prose was appreciated. The first Polish edition was published in 1928 . The 1957 edition is the first post-war edition of this novel in Poland.

The presented copy is clean and preserved in very good condition. This is a must-have for the collector of Russian and Soviet literature, the lover of avant-garde prose, and the bibliophile seeking a representative edition of one of Fedin’s most important works.

8665-20-B-W