The Russian forest

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Russian Forest (original title: Russkij les ) is a 1953 novel by Leonid Leonow , for which the author received the Lenin Prize in 1957 . The first German translation was published in 1960 by Kultur und Progress Verlag, Berlin-Ost. The translation by Maximilian Schick , Maria Riwkin and Lieselotte Remané was also edited by Harry Burck .

content

Moscow 1941 .
Ivan Matwejitsch Wichrow and Alexander "Sascha" Jakowlewitsch Grazianski, professors of forestry at a Moscow institute, form the (fictitious) "double star of Soviet forestry". While the former advocates a sustainable forest operation , according to which only as much wood can be removed from the forest as can grow back, he is attacked by the latter that with his teachings he withholds the wood from the people for romantic motives or at least for questionable scientific reasons. The Second World War drives the conflict, which has been smoldering for years, to a climax and a "solution" (G's suicide) and clarifies "on the side" W's family relationships (especially to his (ex) wife and daughter).
It becomes clear that the two were born around 1894. While Wichrow comes from the most simple, rural background, Grazianski grew up sheltered in the Petersburg middle class. The two get to know each other (and become friends to some extent) while they are both studying in Petersburg. They become contemporary witnesses of the situation in Russia before the October Revolution (such as the attack on Stolypin ) or exert influence as actors.

structure

The top narrative level of the extensive (approx. 800 pages, approx. 230,000 words) novel takes place between 1941 and approx. 1943 BC. a. in Moscow. Extensive flashbacks illuminate episodes from the past of the protagonists from around 1900. In the last third this form becomes a little more dynamic, as events are described in successive chapters that actually run in parallel.
A lecture that Wichrow gives to future students is a particularly closed insert.
Approx. 60% of the text is presented to the reader by an omniscient narrator who always keeps his distance ironically, the rest is made up of literal speeches by the characters in the novel.

literature