White Guard, by Mikhail Bulgakov

bulgakovwhiteguardcover thumb2 White Guard, by Mikhail Bulgakov
White Guard
By Mikhail Bulgakov
Introduction by Evgeny Dobrenko
Translated by Marian Schwartz
Yale University Press, 2008; paperback ed. 2009

Winner, 2009 AATSEEL Award for Best Translation into English

White Guard, Mikhail Bulgakov’s semi-autobiographical first novel, revolves around a Ukrainian family in their home city of Kiev in 1918. Alexei, Elena, and Nikolka Turbin, adult siblings who have just lost their mother, find themselves plunged into the chaotic civil war that erupted in the wake of World War I and the Russian Revolution. In the context of this family’s saga, Bulgakov recreates not only the moment-to-moment experience of battles, but also the long pauses that come before and after. He confronts the reader with the cruelty and violence that overtakes people and events, yet holds up for contrast individual acts of heroism and humanity.

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