THE DRAGON and Other Stories

by Yeugeny Zamyatin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1967

These stories, written in the beginning years of the Russian revolution, through Stalin's regime, reflect little of the realism we have learned to associate with Soviet writers. Zamyatin isa ""modern"" writer, as we have come to know the term--he is a poet of the inner vision, using symbols, dreams, montages, and rich, original imagery to create his ""familiar-unfamiliar"" world. Varying in length from a few pages to novelette, the stories are complex fables, whose imagery often serves a moral purpose. Dog-souled Baryba who longs ""to be with everybody, to howl like everybody, to hit the one that everybody was hitting"" embodies all the animal confusions of a collapsing society; city dwellers are transformed into anxious cavemen crouching in the hollows of their modern cliffs; people become distressed lions, tragicomic devils and dragons, or their identities merge with their surroundings. His vision is essentially that of a revolution in which an animalistic people are trapped today. He develops this theme in many ways, each story holding its own dominion of despair, charm, edge. The poetic quality of his work may lessen its popular appeal.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1967

Categories: FICTION