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| − | [[Image:Bakst bely.jpg|thumb|right|[[Leon Bakst]] Portrait of Andrei Bely]]
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| − | '''Andrei Bely''' ({{lang-ru|Андре́й Бе́лый}}) was the pseudonym of '''Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev''' ({{OldStyleDate|October 26|1880|October 14}} – January 8, 1934), a [[Russia]]n novelist, poet, theorist, and literary critic. His miasmal and profoundly disturbing novel ''[[Petersburg (novel)|Petersburg]]'' was regarded by [[Vladimir Nabokov]] as one of the four greatest novels of the twentieth century.
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| − | ==Biography==
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| − | Boris Bugaev was born into a prominent intellectual family. His father, [[Nikolai Bugaev]], was a leading mathematician who is regarded as a founder of the Moscow school of mathematics. His mother was not only highly intelligent but a famous society beauty, and the focus of considerable gossip. Young Boris was a polymath whose interests included mathematics, music, philosophy, and literature. He would go on to found both the [[Russian Symbolist movement|Symbolist movement]] and the Russian school of [[neo-Kantianism]].
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| − | Nikolai Bugaev was well known for his influential philosophical essays, in which he decried [[geometry]] and [[probability]] and trumpeted the virtues of hard [[Mathematical analysis|analysis]]. Despite—or because of—his father's mathematical tastes, Boris Bugaev was fascinated by probability and particularly by [[entropy]], a notion to which he frequently refers in works such as ''Kotik Letaev''.
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| − | ==Work==
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| − | Bely's creative works notably influenced—and were influenced by—several literary schools, especially symbolism. They feature a striking mysticism and a sort of moody musicality. The far-reaching influence of his literary voice on Russian writers (and even musicians) has frequently been compared to the impact of [[James Joyce]] in the English-speaking world. The novelty of his sonic effects has also been compared to the innovative music of [[Charles Ives]].
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| − | ===Petersburg===
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| − | ''Petersburg'' or ''St. Petersburg'', Russian: ''Петербург'' (1913, revised 1922) is the title of Bely's masterpiece, a [[Russian Symbolism|Symbolist]] work that foreshadows [[James Joyce|Joyce]]'s [[Modernism|Modernist]] ambitions. It is generally considered to be his masterpiece. The book is vivid and memorable, and employs a striking prose method in which ''sounds'' often evoke ''colors''. The novel is set in the somewhat hysterical atmosphere of turn-of-the-century Petersburg and the [[Russian Revolution of 1905]]. To the extent that the book can be said to possess a plot, this can be summarized as the story of the hapless Nikolai Apollonovich, a never-do-well who is caught up in revolutionary politics and assigned the task of assassinating a certain government official—his own father. Nikolai is pursued through the impenetrable Petersburg mists by the ringing hooves of the famous bronze statue of [[Peter I of Russia|Peter the Great]].
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| − | ====Plot introduction====
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| − | The novel is based in [[Saint Petersburg]] and follows a young [[revolutionary]], Nikolai Apollonovich, who has been ordered to assassinate his own father, a high [[Tsarist]] official, by planting a [[Time bomb (explosive)|time bomb]] in his study. There are many similarities with Joyce's [[Ulysses (novel)|Ulysses]]: the linguistic rhythms and wordplay, the Symbolist and subtle political concerns which structure the themes of the novel, the setting of the action in a capital city that is itself a character, the use of humor, and the fact that the main plot of the novel spans approximately twenty-four hours. The differences are also notable: the English translation of Bely remains more accessible, his work is based on complex rhythm of patterns, and, according to scholarly opinion, does not use such a wide variety of innovations.
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| − | ====Release details====
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| − | For various reasons the [[novel]] never received much attention and was not translated into English until 1959 by [[John Cournos]], over 45 years after it was written, after Joyce was already established as an important [[writer]].
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| − | There have been three major translations of the novel into English:
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| − | *''St. Petersburg'' or ''Saint Petersburg'', translated by John Cournos (1959)
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| − | *''Petersburg'', translated and annotated by John E. Malmstad and Robert A. Maguire (1978) (paperback: ISBN 0-253-20219-1)
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| − | *''Petersburg'', translated by David McDuff (1995)
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| − | ==Legacy==
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| − | In his later years Bely was influenced by Rudolph Steiner’s [[anthroposophy]]<ref>[http://www.bartleby.com/65/be/Bely-And.html Bely, Andrei. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07<!-- Bot generated title —>]</ref> and became a personal friend of Steiner's.
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| − | Bely has been credited with foretelling in this novel, which some have called semi-autobiographical, the [[Russian Revolution of 1917|Russian Revolution]], the rise of [[totalitarianism]], political [[terrorism]], and even [[chaos theory]].
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| − | Bely was one of the major influences on the theater of [[Vsevolod Meyerhold]].
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| − | ==Bibliography==
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| − | *1902 ''Second Symphony, the Dramatic''
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| − | *1904 ''The Northern, or First—Heroic''
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| − | *1904 ''Gold in Azure'' (poetry)
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| − | *1905 ''The Return''—Third
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| − | *1908 ''Goblet of Blizzards''—Fourth
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| − | *1909 ''Ash''
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| − | *1909 ''Urn'' (poetry)
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| − | *1910 ''Symbolism'' (criticism/theory)
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| − | *1910 ''Green Meadow'' (criticism)
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| − | *1910 ''The Silver Dove'' (novel)
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| − | *1911 ''Arabeques'' (criticism)
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| − | *1914 ''Kotik Letaev'' (novel based on his childhood)
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| − | *1916 ''[[Petersburg (novel)|Petersburg]]'' (Revised edition published, 1922)
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| − | *1917 ''Revolution and Culture''
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| − | *1918 ''Christ Has Risen'' (poem)
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| − | *1922 ''Recollections of Blok''
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| − | *1922 ["Glossolalia" (A Poem about Sound)] http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/gl/intro.html
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| − | *1922 ''The First Encounter'' (poem)
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| − | *1926 ''The Moscow Eccentric'' (1st of trilogy of novels)
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| − | *1926 ''Moscow Under Siege'' (2nd of trilogy of novels)
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| − | *1927 ''The Baptized Chinaman'' (Translated into English as ["The Christened Chinaman"]<ref>[http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/cc/index.htm Untitled Document<!-- bot-generated title —>] at community.middlebury.edu</ref>)
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| − | *1931 ''Masks'' (3rd of trilogy of novels)
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| − | *1930 ''At the Border of Two Centuries'' (1st memoir of trilogy)
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| − | *1933 ''The Beginning of the Century'' (2nd memoire of trilogy)
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| − | *1934 ''Between Two Revolutions'' (3rd memoire of trilogy)
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| − | *1934 ''Rhythm as Dialectic in The Bronze Horseman'' (criticism)
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| − | *1934 ''The Mastery of Gogol'' (criticism)
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| − | ==References==
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| − | {{reflist}}
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| − | == External links ==
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| − | * [http://www.sovlit.com/bios/bely.html Encyclopedia of Soviet Writers]
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| − | * [http://aanatolivich.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/bely_yogi.pdf Translation of Andrei Bely's short story "The Yogi"]
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| − | [[Category:Art, music, literature, sports and leisure]]
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| − | [[Category:Literature]]
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| − | [[Category:Writers and poets]]
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| − | {{credits|Andrei_Bely|264371351|Petersburg_(novel)|265056452}}
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