Town N
3 hrs. 30 min.
Language
Russian
Author
Leonid Dobychin
Author
Leonid Dobychin
Narrator
Sergey Kulikov
Narrator
Sergey Kulikov
Description
Enn City, a novel, 1935.
The work is told from the perspective of the main character—a boy—about his coming-of-age in an unnamed provincial city in the west of the Russian Empire, on the Dvina River, near Riga, the “Kurland shore,” and Polotsk (most likely, it refers to Dvinsk. The narrator calls his city “Enn City” by analogy with the city in which the poem “Dead Souls” takes place, which he is reading at that time).
The novel contains many references to that work—for example, the hero imagines how he would have become friends with Manilov’s sons, Themistocles and Alcides.
The events span about ten years, beginning before the hero enters the гимназія and ending in the year he graduates (presumably 1911). The hero describes his life at home, his father’s death, his schooling, his attempts to make friends, and trips to acquaintances in Crimea, Sevastopol, and Yevpatoria.
The process of growing up is influenced by echoes of major historical events from the early 20th century, such as the Dreyfus affair, the Russo-Japanese War, the murders of Pleve and Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich, the Revolution of 1905, the appearance of cinema, the centenary of Gogol, the death of Leo Tolstoy, and the 50th anniversary of the abolition of serfdom.
At the end of the novel, by accident, the hero looks through a friend’s spectacles and is surprised to discover that he is nearsighted—and for the first time he puts on glasses himself, starting to see things in details previously unknown to him.
The work is told from the perspective of the main character—a boy—about his coming-of-age in an unnamed provincial city in the west of the Russian Empire, on the Dvina River, near Riga, the “Kurland shore,” and Polotsk (most likely, it refers to Dvinsk. The narrator calls his city “Enn City” by analogy with the city in which the poem “Dead Souls” takes place, which he is reading at that time).
The novel contains many references to that work—for example, the hero imagines how he would have become friends with Manilov’s sons, Themistocles and Alcides.
The events span about ten years, beginning before the hero enters the гимназія and ending in the year he graduates (presumably 1911). The hero describes his life at home, his father’s death, his schooling, his attempts to make friends, and trips to acquaintances in Crimea, Sevastopol, and Yevpatoria.
The process of growing up is influenced by echoes of major historical events from the early 20th century, such as the Dreyfus affair, the Russo-Japanese War, the murders of Pleve and Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich, the Revolution of 1905, the appearance of cinema, the centenary of Gogol, the death of Leo Tolstoy, and the 50th anniversary of the abolition of serfdom.
At the end of the novel, by accident, the hero looks through a friend’s spectacles and is surprised to discover that he is nearsighted—and for the first time he puts on glasses himself, starting to see things in details previously unknown to him.
