The White Guard (Vintage Classics)

---

Cashback will be credited as Amazon Pay balance within 15 days from purchase. Here's how terms and conditions apply Go Cashless: Only on your first 2 cashless orders on Amazon. Offer period 4th Sep to 30th Sep. Cashback within 10 days. Offer valid only once per customer including mobile recharges and bill payments. Here's how terms and conditions apply. Customers who viewed this item also viewed. Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1.

Black Snow Vintage Classics. Sponsored products related to this item What's this? The Complete Collection Set Brighton Rock Vintage Classics. Anna Karenina Movie Tie-in Edition: Official Tie-in Edition Vintage Classics. Customers who bought this item also bought. Paradise Lost Penguin Classics. Review "A powerful reverie To get the free app, enter mobile phone number. See all free Kindle reading apps. Start reading White Guard on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Vintage Classics 6 July Language: Be the first to review this item Amazon Bestsellers Rank: Customer reviews There are no customer reviews yet. Share your thoughts with other customers. Write a product review. Most helpful customer reviews on Amazon. A lesser known work by Bulgakov, which gets to many of the key issues that face Kiev, especially today: Much of the story is based on actual events and places around the taking of Kiev by the Communists in the followup to the Russian Revolution, though twisted in a very Bulgakov way.

Bulgakov has a strong sense of the finer parts of czarist white culture vs. Altro che romanzo minore, romanzo d'esordio bello ma che non eguaglia "Il Maestro e Margherita"! Io l'ho trovato un romanzo perfetto, nel perfetto stile unico di Bulgakov. Grande fu, e terribile, l'anno dopo la nascita di Cristo, il secondo dall'inizio della rivoluzione. Fu ricco di sole in estate, ricco di neve in inverno, e due stelle stettero particolarmente alte nel cielo: Elena viene abbandonata dal marito, un ufficiale Bianco, che fugge all'estero, al seguito dello Stato Maggiore, lasciandola al suo destino.

Il fratello maggiore Alekseij si trova lontano, a combattere con i Bianchi. Bulgakov visse questi eventi in prima persona, ne fa un resoconto preciso, cruento, descrivendo tanto i massacri di ex ufficiali bianchi che venivano cercati casa per casa dai bolscevichi, ammazzati a sciabolate per strada, come anche i pogrom contro gli ebrei messi in atto dai nazionalisti di Petljura. Famosa la telefonata con cui lo tempestava spesso: Le siamo venuti tanto a noia? Sep 02, alphyna rated it really liked it. After I finished reading the first time I went to the Introductions and read them.

The one by the translator, Marian Schwartz, is very nice, informative - she did this in But the one by Evgeny Dobrenko is totally marvelous, thoughtful and informative, giving background information on Bulgakov as well as the Ukranaian War of Independence Russian Civil War. This tim After I finished reading the first time I went to the Introductions and read them. This time I followed all the action, family or not. I took notes see the link.

I googled for more specific info. The writing is beautiful, lush, sensual. Everything has meaning and I know that no matter how much I studied it in this day and age, - California - there is no way I could possibly understand the nature of all the symbolism, the dream sequences, the characters and their ideas. Kiev is the religious center of Russia - where Prince Vladimir accepted Christianity in His statue and hill play a central roll in White Guard.

But Bulgakov also wrote the book as a kind of commentary on the meaningless, violent, stupidity of war. Also important in the book are the themes time is moving on and running out so many clocks and that everybody is running away. There seem to be lots of ways of running away but the physical act is important here. Lampshades color, dim, hide the truth of the situation while religion seems to distance it. Aug 28, Tony rated it liked it Shelves: It is the story of the battles of the Russian Revolution as they occurred in around the city of Kiev. This novel focuses on the adventures of one family in Kiev, the Turbins, in the year What Bulgakov did was to tell his tale using a variety of characters — either from the Turbins or from other organizations, including various branches of the military from all sides — but having each character tell his piece from his own point of view.

This takes a little while getting used to, as each new narrator simply just appears and begins to tell his piece. In this work, it took me about one-third of the way into the book before I began to catch on to what the author was doing. Once past that, it was only a matter of keeping all of the characters straight.

Looking over other reviews after I had read the work, I found that there were many comments about this book being a masterpiece. If it was, I missed something. It is a good book, but I have my reservations about using the word masterpiece. Sep 21, Pavel rated it it was amazing Shelves: Times of turnmoil German troops are leaving Kiev to Petlura, controversial leader of Ukranian nationalists, the one who tries to gain his power through stirring a conflict between Russians and Ukrainians and Jews. Pogroms are on their way.

Bolsheviks are going in just in a few weeks.

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Big family of Turbins, Russian intelligent people and their friends. Whole world of their is collapsing right in front our eyes. Bulgakov is best-known for his "Master and Margarit Ukraine. Bulgakov is best-known for his "Master and Margarita", but I actually prefer "The white guard", it's a masterpiece of Russian realistic prose. He himself did not afraid to compare it to the "War and piece".

Indeed it's a "War and piece" of Russian clerisy, their tragic fate and inadaptability and idealism. Bulgakov came from this environment, he was from Kiev himself, all the main characters: And not only Ukranian turnmoil reflects with our times, but this difficult situation for intellectuals, when they are caught between own notions of events and the fear of political purges.

Love and death and defeat of all hopes, everything is in there. Play based on this novel - "Days of Turbins" was a huge MXT success, Stalin saw it at least 15 times and didn't allow to ban it. This book does an excellent job portraying the confusion and chaos in Kiev in December The White Guard defending the city are woefully outnumbered by those who are going to attack the city-- the Bolsheviks.

The White Guard

The leaders of the Whites flee the city, leaving few instructions to those left behind, mostly Cadets. Many of the Cadets and officers are killed but some are able to flee. The Turbin family, two brothers and their sister, show how this confusion and disaster affected the people of Kiev o This book does an excellent job portraying the confusion and chaos in Kiev in December The Turbin family, two brothers and their sister, show how this confusion and disaster affected the people of Kiev on a more personal and emotional level.

Dopo aver adorato Il Maestro e Margherita e molto apprezzato Cuore di cane , avevo molte aspettative su questo romanzo, che sono state - alla prova della lettura - almeno in parte tradite. Con tutto quel che ne consegue a livello di apprezzamento e di lettura. La trama ripercorre un biennio incredibilmente caotico, e questo non aiuta il lettore; a peggiorare le cose subentra il fatto che i riferimenti alla cultura russa sono moltissimi e continui, e che gli stessi non sono facilmente digeribili per noi europei occidentali aiutano in questo le ottime - e numerose - note in fondo al libro e l'altrettanto ottima e sintetica introduzione - che consiglio di leggere prima di immergersi nella complessa trama.

Inoltre, alcuni personaggi e frammenti del romanzo non si capisce che senso abbiano. Paradigmi sociali utilizzati in maniera di sineddoche per rappresentare, con un solo personaggio tratteggiato magistralmente, tutto un frammento del tessuto sociale: Tuttavia, siccome ci troviamo di fronte a un vero e assoluto genio della letteratura mondiale del Novecento, si riesce comunque a rimanere - a tratti - estasiati.

Straordinarie su tutte le pagine dedicate alla missione del giovane Nikolka all'obitorio, il racconto della guarigione di Aleksej, il resoconto della disperata difesa di Kiev da parte dei cadetti all'assalto delle truppe di Petljura. Splendide, nella loro fortissima carica mistica e emotiva, le parti oniriche fra cui il finale. Tutti pezzi di bravura mostruosa che troveranno piena maturazione nel Maestro e Margherita , che continuo imperterrito a ritenere il miglior romanzo mai scritto nel secolo scorso.

Mikhail Bulgakov captures this violent and endearing past of Russia, its pivotal point in history that centers on its transition state, written with such poignancy as he vividly describes the sudden disintegration of the Russian society that existed for half a millennia, the demise of the Tsarist regime and the fall of the aristocracy in the hands of the revolutionary commoners as prophesied by Fyodor Dostoyevsky in Demons , which parallelism with Pyotr Verkhovensky seems evident in Bulgakov 's unseen moving character of Petlyura in The White Guard , hovering like a dark cloud over a horizon that signals only an impending doom.

The style of writing is different from his more famous novel, The Master and Margarita which is filled with profound comicality that hides the inner truths in the depth of his masterful utilization of magical realism.

At first glance, it seems that the two novels are penned by two different authors, as The White Guard , on the other hand, there are only misty streaks of profundity emitting from it, as it gears towards descriptive realism, encapsulating a specific period in time, as it describes the physical aspects of circumstances rather than delving into its underlying meaning. It is written in an almost straight forward way, except during Bulgakov 's bouts of lucid imagery in between and at the last part of the novel, displaying his keen grasp of the surreal through the symbolic dream sequences that foretell his genius as a writer.

Furthermore, the novel in its entirety appears more like a stage play rather than a novel, as its deliberate compactness has this kind of effect in visualization to the reader. The White Guard is the story of the Turbin siblings, mainly Alexei, Elena and Nikolka living in Ukraine at that time during the critical period in the Russian revolution. The narrative is told from the different angles of their viewpoints, as their experiences intertwined into the hellish change that is about to take shape in Russia.

The White Guard by Mikhail Bulgakov

It untangles their lives caught in the grim prospect of death, as they all struggle to survive amid the sea of uncertainty. The novel opens with a bleak metaphor, the gloom of death at hand, as the death of their adored mother appears as a symbolic gesture of their own fate or more aptly the fate of the whole of Russia, as they all become a living witness to the death of their own society that keeps them safe and intact, as it gives them a preview of the vicissitudes that would come out of it as a repercussion.

See a Problem?

In terms of character development, there are minor appearances of interesting personas that are just left hanging in mid air without further elaboration on the part of Bulgakov. They seem to appear like bubbles out of nowhere that burst immediately into thin air, which if their development has been taken into consideration, it could have made the novel more intense, keeping the audience riveted on its pages as it will allow them to go deeper into the depths of the situation, giving contrast to the humanitarian efforts of the Turbin siblings against the psychological implications a tragedy can cause to other people.

For instance, the sudden appearance of the syphilis infected Ivan Rusakov by the middle of the novel, whose sexually transmitted disease made him remorseful, turning him away from his wicked past, as it turns him into a religious fanatic enclosed into the rigidity of an ascetic belief.

His character is actually loosely detached from the lives of the main protagonists with the exception of a brief encounter with Alexei in the end, but in his character, which is only abruptly mentioned by Bulgakov lies the psychological depth that exists in all of humanity, especially those on the verge of transformation.

Same goes with the other minor characters who flutter fleetingly within the novel, leaving their hidden implications to the imagination of the reader, like the inconsistent behavior of the depraved character of Mikhail Shpolyansky , or the bravery displayed by the tragic character of Colonel Nai-Turs , his own unquestionable heroism leading him to his own demise. These are just few of the several instances within The White Guard , surrounding the lives of the Turbin siblings and their friends, as they pop out disconnectedly from the whole, yet congenial to the rest of the novel.

Perhaps, it is Bulgakov 's own demonstration to imply the sheer uncertainty of that particular period in time. It was indeed a very amusing book. I randomly found it on my usual supermarket. It was a safe bet. Although the author is considered to be a disciple of Nikolai Gogol , I find this comparison a bit too much. Sure he had a It was indeed a very amusing book. Sure he had and showed witty moments, but Nikolai Gogol shows a lot more consistency in his prose.

Fun book but confused at time. At least for me. Maybe because its Mikhail Bulgakov first novel? Il be sure to check that on his next novel I get my hands on. The characters are well written, the story is fascinating for those interested in the subject , the prose and descriptions are great, everything is perfect. Perhaps I wanted a longer book and I'm taking it out on the rating? Okay, I'll give it a 4. Set deep on either side of his long bird-like nose, Nikolka's blue eyes had a wounded, defeated look.

Occasionally he raised them towards the ikon screen, to the vaulted apse above the altar where that glum and enigmatic old man, God, towered above them and winked. Why had he inflicted such a wrong on them? They not only knew nothing about the distant parts of the country, but they were even, ridiculous though it seems, in utter ignorance of what was happening in the villages scattered about twenty or thirty miles away from the City itself.

They neither knew nor cared about the real Ukraine and they hated it with all their heart and soul. And whenever there came vague rumors of events from that mysterious place called 'the country', rumors that the Germans were robbing the peasants, punishing them mercilessly and mowing them down by machine-gun fire, not only was not a single indignant voice raised in defense of the Ukrainian peasants but, under silken lampshades in drawing-rooms, they would bare their teeth in a wolfish grin and mutter: And a bit more of that sort of treatment wouldn't do 'em any harm either.

I'd give it 'em even harder. That'll teach them to have a revolution — didn't want their own masters, so now they can have a taste of another! Craning, excited, leaning forward, pushing, they surged towards the balustrade trying to look down into the well of the cathedral, but could see nothing for the hundreds of heads already there, like rows of yellow apples.

Down in the abyss swayed a reeking, thousand-headed crowd, over which hovered an almost incandescent wave of sweat, steam, incense smoke, the lamp-black from hundreds of candles, and soot from heavy chain-hung ikon-lamps.

The ponderous gray-blue drape creaked along on its rings and covered the doors of the altar screen, floridly wrought in centuries-old metal as dark and grim as the whole gloomy cathedral of St Sophia. Crackling faintly and swaying, the flaming tongues of candles in the chandeliers drifted upwards in threads of smoke. There was not enough air for them. Around the altar there was incredible confusion. From the doors of side-chapels, down the worn granite steps, poured streams of gold copes and fluttering stoles.

Priestly headdresses, like short violet stovepipes, slid out of their cardboard boxes, religious banners were taken down, flapping, from the walls. Somewhere in the thick of the crowd boomed out the awesome bass of Archdeacon Seryebryakov. A headless, armless cope swayed above the crowd and was swallowed up again; then there rose up one sleeve of a quilted cassock, followed by the other as its wearer was enrobed in the cope.

Check handkerchiefs fluttered and were twisted into plaits. Hell of an evocation of Ukrainian Civil War from the vantage point of a pro-monarchy Russian family and their friends in Kiev. Important, complex history in a master work of fiction. Bulgakov illustrates the confusion and tension far from revolutionary Petrograd and how Kievans sort through the chaos and interpret events they cannot even attempt to control. As pointed out by others, it is ironic that Bulgakov and his characters see themselves as honorable reactionaries hoping to reinstate a tsar Hell of an evocation of Ukrainian Civil War from the vantage point of a pro-monarchy Russian family and their friends in Kiev.

As pointed out by others, it is ironic that Bulgakov and his characters see themselves as honorable reactionaries hoping to reinstate a tsar. They support the mostly inadequate-to-malignant Romanovs yet the characters are strongly motivated by honor. They yearn to return to a government that has been, irl, very dishonorable and bad for pretty much the whole Russian Empire. Thankfully, this translation in includes the dream sequence.

When I was there in the early s it seemed glorious but a bit sad and rundown, trashed by communism. Ukraine is in such a vulnerable geographic position with no relief in sight. Russia and Ukraine as allies and trading partners could move forward faster together than as conqueror and conquered. I've known people who live inside contemporary Ukrainian borders who identify as Ukrainian and those who identify as Russian. I have no preference. I just want neither to get screwed, but screwed they are.

Maybe they need to build a Trumpian wall! This book is my second time reading Bulgakov. Last year, I read The Master and Margarita , and I found it to be very enjoyable due to its autobiographical and satirical nature.

The story takes place in Ukraine, after WWI, but where the Russian populace is knee deep in the revolution. The Turbin family represents the core set of characters in the book. They provide an interesting perspective, because they are middle class, non-labore This book is my second time reading Bulgakov. They provide an interesting perspective, because they are middle class, non-laborers, and they support reinstatement or retention of the monarchy.

Although I enjoyed the book, I still found it to be heavy on symbolism and not as much based upon deep thought or insight into the mindset of the pro-monarchist during that time. I think that I was looking for something similar to Grossman's Life and Fate , but I just couldn't really find it here, and the introduction set up the book so well, too. The central question that existed in was would the Russian people be better off under a new regime or should they try to work through their issues under the existing Tsarist one?

History has taught us that with revolution comes sweeping change, but also there is a high likelihood that with that change, there will be some form or dictatorial or similarly oppressive rule. I was hoping to get some discourse on this point, but unfortunately, I found the book to be lacking in this regard. Overall, I enjoyed reading it, but I will have to look to other sources to bridge my knowledge gap here. View all 4 comments. Dec 10, Jennifer Richardson rated it it was amazing.

This book is a page turner at it's finest- not because it is action packed and full of cheesy cliffhangers, but because Bulgakov's writing style so successfully recreates for the reader the torturous confusion these characters experienced in this bizarre time of war- and these characters and I want to figure out what the hell is happening! Why is everyone running in the other direction and ripping off their epaulets? Where is Turbin and why hasn't he made it home yet? And who the hell is this Pe This book is a page turner at it's finest- not because it is action packed and full of cheesy cliffhangers, but because Bulgakov's writing style so successfully recreates for the reader the torturous confusion these characters experienced in this bizarre time of war- and these characters and I want to figure out what the hell is happening!

And who the hell is this Petlyura fellow anyway? The narration of these events taking place in Kiev during Russian Civil War is given through many different perspectives.

You will experience a battle with someone, confused and distraught over why things are happening this way. In the next chapter you will back peddle through the perspective of another character to see how the event played our from the start. This style of story-telling keeps in-tact the chaotic experience these people were dealing with while also allowing the reader to eventually assemble the big picture.

Bulgakov makes the City come to life so thoroughly with vivid descriptions of objects and places that reach out to all of ones senses, always unique but through reappearing motifs. While the main story revolves around the members of the Ukrainian Turbin family, the essence of the story is much more far reaching and captures the seemingly endless turbulence of both the City and the nation.

Special offers and product promotions

Aug 12, Ivan rated it it was amazing. A truthful and frightening recount of an ordinary pre-revolution family transformed by successive events in Ukrainian history. This isn't a horror story, and it doesn't have any gore, but the functioning and the breakdown of society; life of a family in such a society with its hopes and fears in absence of clear outcome is a fearsome sight to behold.

This is especially true when we look back to contemplate the uneasy history of UkrSSR that followed and hundreds of thousands of people's lives dest A truthful and frightening recount of an ordinary pre-revolution family transformed by successive events in Ukrainian history. This is especially true when we look back to contemplate the uneasy history of UkrSSR that followed and hundreds of thousands of people's lives destroyed in successive expropriation and forced industrialisation.

I acknowledge that for a native anglophone the multitude of names can be confusing, and back in soviet times this book, while certainly banned could really be comprehended by select few, as most individuals have never known a productive life outside of the system, nor envisaged a possibility of its existence. I would recommend this book to those who have Russian ancestry first wave emigration and want to understand what pushed them to leave and how uneasy this decision was in a WWI Europe; it is also somewhat representative of my great-grand uncle family story.

Eh, non so proprio che valutazione dare a questo libro. La storia inizia subito e sin dalle prime pagine sembra tutto confuso e sconclusionato. Bulgakov voleva sicuramente ricreare la confusione che regnava a Kiev e ci riesce molto bene; infatti ci ho capito poco o niente. Ci sono delle note e un'introduzione poco informativa, ma non sono sufficienti per chi, come me, non sa praticamente niente dell'Ucraina. Per non parlare delle ambientazioni: Bulgakov ha scritto questo libro in russo, ma ogni tanto aggiungeva una frase o delle parole in ucraino; leggendolo in traduzione si perdono anche queste chicche linguistiche.

Grazie anche ad amazon per i suoi ebook pieni di refusi che non aiutato la scorrevolezza della lettura. Apr 09, J.

Mikhail Bulgakov is one of my favorite authors, and this book has been on my reading list for far too long. This story was known more widely in its play form than as a book S Mikhail Bulgakov is one of my favorite authors, and this book has been on my reading list for far too long. This story was known more widely in its play form than as a book Stalin was said to have seen the play 15 times , just as Bulgakov was known better as a playwright than as an author, due to the suppression of his fiction by Soviet censorship. Before he was known as a playwright in Moscow he was a doctor who served in the White Army and specialized in the treatment of venereal diseases in Kiev.

Likewise the character Alexei Turbin is a doctor with the same specialty who is also involved in the White resistance. The White Guard is largely biographical, as the Turbin family occupies the same apartment where the Bulgakov family lived and Mikhail practiced. The seven Bulgakov siblings are reduced to three Turbins, Alexei, Elena, and Nikolka, and it is through their experiences that we see the Socialist siege of Kiev during the winter of During the Civil War that followed the Bolshevik Revolution in Kiev was occupied by the German army, the Whites or monarchists, the Socialists, and the Bolsheviks.

The White Guard aptly and accurately depicts the upheaval and confusion that reigned in Kiev during this period. Bulgakov left Kiev and medicine for Moscow and literature in Through his departure from Kiev we are able to re-visit it nearly a century later in the pages of The White Guard. Art is the ultimate victory of resistance. Feb 14, Dragan rated it it was amazing. Read this for the first time some 25 years ago. Read it, understood it. I love the way he portraits doctors: It is, in my humble opinion, very Slavic in its content, and I fell unjustly maybe that it is rather hermetic for other readers due to this.

But, I am probably wrong, judging by the other commentators He studied and briefly practised medicine and, after indigent wanderings through revolutionary Russia and the Caucasus, he settled in Moscow in His sympathetic portrayal of White characters in his stories, in the plays The Days of the Turbins The White Guard , which enjoyed great success at the Moscow Art Theatre in , and Flight , and his satirical treatment of the officials of the New Economic Plan, led to growing criticism, which became violent after the play The Purple Island.

Fame, at home and abroad, was not to come until a quarter of a century after his death at Moscow in His family belonged to the intellectual elite of Kyiv. Bulgakov and his brothers took part in the demonstration commemorating the death of Leo Tolstoy. Bulgakov later graduated with honors from the Medical School of Kyiv University in He married his classmate Tatiana Lappa, who became his assistant at surgeries and in his doctor's office. He practiced medicine, specializing in venereal and other infectious diseases, from to he later wrote about the experience in "Notes of a Young Doctor.

• Construction Databook: Construction Materials and Equipment: Construction Materials and Equipment (P
• Families and Mental Retardation: New Directions in Professional Practice
• Emerging Frameworks and Methods: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Conceptions o
• The Complete Guide to Understanding, Controlling, and Stopping Bullies & Bullying at Work: A Complet
• The Man in the Brown Suit (Agatha Christie Collection)
• Farandole, No. 4 from Larlésienne, Suite 2
• Surrender to the Past (Mills & Boon Modern)