The Christened Chinaman

Description

Translated, annotated and Introduction by Thomas R. Beyer, Jr.Published in Moscow in 1927, Bely's autobiographical novel THE CHRISTENED CHINAMAN describes family life and Moscow academic society at the turn of the last century, attempting to capture the memory and imagination of a child in the sustained rhythmic prose of the adult Symbolist poet and theoretician. The narration unfolds on three levels, autobiographical, historico-philosophical and mystical, expanding the limits of the Russian language through neologisms and eurhythmy. In THE CHRISTENED CHINAMAN Bely ultimately reconciles himself with the figure of "father" that had so haunted his earlier novels, The Silver Dove and Petersburg.In Thomas Beyer's translation, accuracy and fidelity to the original capture that complexity and make the special magic of Bely's ornamental prose accessible to a new audience of English readers. The translation of this important novel is a significant addition to the few works available in English to readers and students of Russian literature by one of Russia's most innovative and challenging novelists of the twentieth century.