August 1914
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| August 1914 | |
| Author | Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn |
|---|---|
| Original title | Август 1914 |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Language | Russian |
| Series | The Red Wheel |
| Genre(s) | Historical novel |
| Publisher | YMCA Press |
| Publication date | 1971; 1984 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 573 pp; 850+ pp (Second version) |
August 1914 is a novel by Russian novelist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn about Imperial Russia's defeat at the Battle of Tannenberg in East Prussia, known in Russian history as the Battle of the Masurian Lakes. The novel was completed in 1970, during Solzhenitsyn's period of exile while residing in the United States[1]. The novel is an unusual blend of fiction narrative and historiography, and has given rise to extensive and often bitter controversy, both from the literary as well as from the historical point of view.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The unprepared army's failures mirror those of the Tsarist regime. A famous episode in the earlier version of the novel narrates the state of mind and suicide of General Samsonov, the Russian commander.
[edit] Later editions
In 1984 a new version of the novel, much expanded, was published in an English translation by H.T. Willetts. By this time Solzhenitsyn had been a resident of the USA for some years and was therefore able to publish chapters hitherto suppressed, as well as new parts written after extensive research at the library of the Hoover Institution. These included chapters on Vladimir Lenin which were published separately as Lenin in Zurich; several chapters dealing with Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin, as well as with the background and personality of Stolypin's murderer, Dmitri Bogrov, and the suspected involvement of the Tsarist Secret Police in Stolypin's assassination.
[edit] Series
At well over 800 pages, the novel constitutes the beginning of the Red Wheel series, continued ten years later with November 1916.
