An unfortunate death
The Ladies from Saint-Petersburg, by Nina Berberova. (76 pages) I have read the French translation by Cécile Térouanne.
Those who follow this blog know that I’ve decided to join Sarah’s challenge entitled “Not a Rat’s Chance in Hell’s Challenge”. The 10th book of the challenge must be a friend’s choice and that’s how Guy from His Futile Preoccupation ended up picking The Ladies of Saint-Petersburg for me.
Summer 1917, the Russian Revolution has begun. Barbara Ivanovna and her daughter Marguerite arrive at doctor Byrdine’s guest-house. The house is located at twelve versts form the nearest train station. They are exhausted. They left St Petersburg behind. The country is disorganized, the trip lasted two days instead of a six-hours journey by train. We don’t know why they come here, but we guess they are fleeing from a city devastated by fights.
Upon the night of their arrival, Barbara Ivanovna dies from a stroke. The heat is intense. The village is far away. It is impossible to send the corpse back to St Petersburg for its burial. The doctor’s wife suggests to bury Barbara Ivanovna in their garden. We then follow the preparations for the funeral.
Marguerite is about 20, I think, though her age is never mentioned. Despite the horror of the situation, her instinct is to live. She is all alone, her parents being both dead now and among strangers. She needs to take practical decisions for the funeral. She is in pain. But her life force is strong enough for her to notice the beauty of the garden, to think about marriage. Her mother is dying and she thinks:
| Il ne lui restait plus qu’une chose à faire : épouser, à n’importe quel prix, Léonide Léodinovitch, autrement, elle était perdue. | There was only one thing to do now: to marry Leonid Leodonovich at any cost, otherwise, she was lost. |
She could sound vapid and selfish but she isn’t. She knows her feelings are improper but youth is stronger than good manners.
| Marguerite ne quittait pas Byrdine : ainsi elle ne sortit pas dans le jardin, touffu et parfumé où elle craignait de succomber à des tentations, une douceur et un laisser-aller inopportun qui déjà la gagnaient à travers les fenêtres et les portes de la maison. Le sentiment de l’été et de la liberté lui faisait tourner la tête. | Marguerite never left Byrdine. She didn’t go out in the thick and fragrant garden. She was afraid to succumb to a sweetness and an improper abandon that already reached out to her through the windows and the doors of the house. The feeling of summer and of freedom made her dizzy. |
When Nina Berberova relates Barbara Ivanovna’s death and its consequences, she also depicts 1917. People on the roads running away from cities, peasants and craftsmen taking advantage of the situation. Social links are falling to pieces. She shows the poverty is the countries, the children running after the doctor’s carriage and begging for food and their bad health. In a few words, she describes how people rapidly lose any fake politeness or friendliness when living through hard times. The reader first perceives the changing of regime through tiny details, such as St Petersburg suddenly being called Petrograd. The last chapter is quite significant on that part, but I won’t tell more here.
Nina Berberova’s style seems simple, made of short sentences anddialogues but she has an original way to assemble words, like in her “Byrdine glanced at her lazily and aggressively”. How can someone be lazy and aggressive at the same time? Or here is Marguerite’s night after her mother passed away: “Without moving or crying, she laid still until morning, listening to birds, then servants, then the ladies and gentlemen wake up.” We can well imagine her sleepless night.
I really enjoyed reading this novella and its combination of a pleasant style, historical background and personal story. So thanks Guy, you made a good choice.
PS : I did the translations. I did my best.
Book Around the Corner 
Glad you liked it. I thought you would. So your copy only had the one story in it? I’ve read Berberova’s the Accompanist too, but I prefer the Ladies from St. Petersburg. What about you?
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Yes, there’s only one story in my copy. It’s a pretty book. The publisher Actes Sud is a reliable one and they usually have nice covers. I remember your copy has three stories. What are the other ones?
I can’t tell you which one I prefer. I’d need to read The Accompanist again. It’s been 15 years since I’ve read it. Even if I remembered it clearly, I’ve changed a lot these last 15 years, I’m not sure my response to it would be the same.
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I like Berberova. Le livre du bonheur was the one I liked most but I also read some of her novellas. I like what you write about her style, I try to picture lazy and aggressive and I would say, that goes very well. You are not a cat owner? Disturb a lazy cat and that is what you get. I found the sequence of people who get up inetersting. Servants, then ladies, the gentlemen… I wonder if Nina Berberova wrote anything that is not good?
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I get that someone can be lazy then aggressive but being both at the same moment is what I can’t picture.
I don’t have any pet. I don’t have enough time to take care of a pet and I think one shouldn’t have a pet if they can’t take a good care of it.
I’ll have a look at Le Livre du bonheur. (I suppose you’ve read Berberova in French?)
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Yes, I did read her in French indeed. I agree about pets and time. They need and deserve it.
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This is already on my radar through Guy. It’s nice to be reminded of it actually. It’s one I mean to track down. It sounds subtle, and I like the idea of examining the revolution through this microcosm of the wider society.
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It’s only 76 pages and subtle is a good description of it. She’s worth reading and you’d probably like her work.
She was fashionable in France in the 1990s, re-discovered or something like that.
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76 pages? I’ll definitely pick it up then.
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I think we should all add the number of pages (or locations) of the book in our posts. Just after the title.
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I’ve just noticed Guy had actually reviewed The Ladies of Saint-Petersburg here. I had assumed he had read this before starting his blog, I didn’t even think of looking for a review there. Sorry Guy.
It gives another view of Berberova’s work.
As always Russian names aren’t spelled the same in French and in English. French translators tend to translate first names, which really irritates me.
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I’m not sure I’d personally put it right there, but it’s a good idea. I might do that in future just after the link I tend to put at the bottom of my posts.
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