During the
Russian civil war a young man fought on the side of the Whites. When he is on
the steppe he meets a man on a horse who fires a shot at him and the young man
kills the other man. After the war he ends up in Paris where he does odd jobs
to earn his living.
He never forgot the incident on the steppe and when he reads about the incident in a book by the English writer Alexander Wolf, he is shocked.
He never forgot the incident on the steppe and when he reads about the incident in a book by the English writer Alexander Wolf, he is shocked.
He tries to
find out more about this Alexander Wolf, but he is not that easy to track down.
The English publisher says Wolf is an Englishman who never left England and the
letters he sends are not answered. In Paris he meets a fellow Russian who
happens to know Alexander Wolf and when the young man finally meets him, fate
catches up with him.
Gaito Gazdanov is a Russian author who fought against the
Bolsheviks during the Russian civil war. He ended up in Paris where he did odd
jobs and tried to write. This book was published in 1947 and a first English
translation was published in 1950. After that this writer and his books were
forgotten. Only a few years back a German publisher discovered him again and
after that more publishers all over Europe made translations and published Gazdanov’s work. Here in The
Netherlands there were even two publishers who both loved this book so much
they decided to publish it together.
Gaito Gazdanov |
The spectre of Alexander Wolf is not a long story, it has under
200 pages (my Dutch translation has 172). The story is interesting, a man
shoots another man and later he reads about it in a book, while he was the only
one who knew what happened. The story is told in a very precise way, there is
not a word too much in it. Sometimes you wonder why a certain events is described
in detail, but later you realize why this was necessary.
Some things that
happen are not unexpected, but the ending is. I read that Gazdanov wrote three endings, but finally decided this is the only
right one. And I agree, it could not have ended in another way. I cannot say
more, because then I would give away too much of the story. The only thing I
can say is everyone should read this beautiful small, but also grand story for
themselves, and be surprised.
I love how
sometimes a writer is rediscovered and his books are republished. Another book
by Gazdanov was published a few
years ago, An evening with Claire
and of course I bought that one immediately. A review of it will follow
next week.
Original
Russian title: Prizrak Aleksandra Wolfa
Published in 1947
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