White Guard
by Mikhail Bulgakov, Ms Marian Schwartz, Prof. Evgeny Dobrenko
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Book Summary Information
Author: Mikhail Bulgakov, Ms Marian Schwartz, Prof. Evgeny DobrenkoEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-05-28
ISBN: 030012242X
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Yale University Press
Book Reviews of White Guard
Book Review: A Brilliant Family Portrait, Taken During Civil War
Summary: 4 Stars
Mikhail Bulgakov lived in House No. 13 on Andrew's Descent during the 1918 Ukrainian civil war and this novel has many autobiographical features. However, this is a novel, not a memoir. Bulgakov captures not only historical facts, but also the essence of a fictional, quintessentially Ukrainian, family you will not soon forget. Bulgakov is a master of sketching character and capturing the moment, but Bulgakov achieves much more. Notwithstanding the setting, or perhaps because of it, the novel is more about personal and family relationships than it is about politics. The politics of the time are not absent, but they are primarily a backdrop to the traumas the Turbin family suffers. The end result is a deep look into character and love in the midst of tragic crises.
This novel was never fully published in the Soviet Union until after the author's death. One reason may be the fact that a touching portrait of a family who sympathized with the "White's" was counterproductive to Stalin's "Red" totalitarian regime. The play based on the novel, however, was very popular, apparently even with Stalin who reportedly watched it numerous times.
While the novel transcends politics, it fully inhabits the time and place. The sense of Kiev is palpable, as are the competing factions and loyalties within the city in 1918. "The White Guard" has plenty of action both on stage and off. It is not dry history, but a fully realized novel of impressive depth.
(One final point, this book is realist in contrast to Bulgakov's more famous The Master and Margarita which is a surrealist portrait of the Soviet Union and a primary source of inspiration for Rushdie's Midnight's Children: A Novel. I make this point both to convince you of Bulgakov's importance in literary history and to warn you that the two books are masterful in very different ways.)
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