Ivan Vyzhigin: A Moral-Satirical Novel

by Faddei Bulgarin, Michael R. Katz (Translator), William Mills Todd III (Introduction)

Overview

With his translation, Michael R. Katz makes available the first bestselling novel in Russia, Faddei Bulgarin's social satire Ivan Vyzhigin (1829). The novel is an amusing picaresque filled with local color and comical portraits, narrated by its hero, an orphaned peasant who relates his many adventures as a young man. The book is remarkable for its accurate descriptions of nineteenth-century Russian day-to-day reality: the clothes, food, surroundings, and characters that Ivan Vyzhigin encounters. Its publication ushered in the age of prose in nineteenth-century Russian literature, and Bulgarin was hailed by Pushkin as a major prose writer.

As William Mills Todd III notes in his introduction, Ivan Vyzhigin opens a window onto what Russians were reading between the late eighteenth century and the 1917 Revolution. Along with Todd's introduction, Katz's annotations provide literary, historical, and cultural context.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501782619
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	08/15/2025
Series:	NIU Series in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
Pages:	396
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Michael R. Katz received his doctorate from Oxford. He taught at Williams College, the University of Texas at Austin, and Middlebury College. He has written two monographs and has translated more than twenty-five Russian novels into English.

William Mills Todd III is Research Professor and Harry Tuchman Levin Professor of Comparative Literature Emeritus at Harvard University and author of Fiction and Society in the Age of Pushkin.

Table of Contents

Preface to Novel by Faddei Bulgarin
1. The Little Orphan, or a Portraitof Humanity in the Manner of theFlemish School
2. Mr. Gologordovsky and His Family
3. Love
4. Matchmaking
5. The Ball and Abduction
6. Marriage and Parting with theNewlyweds
7. A Rich Yid. Sources of His Wealth.
8. Meeting a Civil Servant, Returningfrom a Certain Place, with the OtherOne Going to a Certain Place. I Leavethe Yid.
9. An Unexpected Meeting.A Transformation. My Aunt. My Education.
10. Examination in Boarding School.A Tempter. My Aunt's New Friend. Something Like First Love.Departure from Moscow.
11. I Get to Know Vorovatin Better.An Overheard Conversation.Premonitions. A Police Captain.
12. An Emancipated Man. A Lunatic.Deceived in Love.
13. A Prisoner of the Kirghiz. A Kirghiz Philosopher, Arsalan-Sultan.I Become a Horseman.
14. Arsalan-Sultan's Account of His Stayin Russia
15. Consequences of a Hard Winter inthe Steppe. The Attack. A JoyfulReunion with My First Benefactor.
16. Milovidin's Tale. A MoralAutomaton and His Housekeeper.An Old Maid's Family. A Panoramaof Moscow Society. A FriendlyQuadrille. A Russian Foreigner.Society at the Spa. A Viewof Venice.
17. The Resolution of the KirghizElders Concerning My Reward. The Continuation of Milovidin's Tale.A Duel. The Flight. The Apostate Yid. Arrival in Constantinople. What IsPera? Betrayal. Slavery. Liberation.
18. Departure from the Steppe.The Police Chief Once Again!Collectors of Transit Dues.The Officials' Feast.
19.
20. A Landowner—the Kind We NeedMore of in Russia. Judge the Flock byIts Priest.
21. The Audacious Landowner—SilaMinich Glazdurin
22. A Retired Soldier's Story. Arrival in Moscow. My Aunt's History. I FindMy Mother. The Seducer. Murderers.
23. The Conclusion of AdelaidaPetrovna's Story. Marriage.Reeducation. The Free Life. The Fatal Consequences of Negligence. I Enterthe World. Paying Visits.
24. A Picture of High Society. Meetingwith a Kind Enemy. Oh, Human Weakness!
25. Grunya's Story. Friendship witha Clever Actress, or The Shortest,Surest, and Nicest Path to Ruin.
26. Deliver Us from Evil! A Lesson inDaytime Piracy. Advice from an Old Soldier. I Come into Money Again.
27. False Gamblers. A Letter fromMilovidin. He Located HisWife. Petronella's Repentance. Sequestration in Poland, or Checkand Mate to Creditors. The Death ofMr. Gologordovsky. Mr. Pochtivsky,His Other Son-in-Law.
28. The Young Nobleman. Glupashkin.An Aficionado of Dramatic Art.Disorder in the Robbers' Den.Misfortune. Grunya's Flight. Honestyin Wolf's Clothing, or Don't Judge by Appearances. The Egoist.
29. My Intention to Marry. Official Arithmetic. Acquaintance with aWealthy Tax Farmer. A Feast in theHome of the Merchant Moshnin. His Family. Domestic Theater.
30. Failure in Matchmaking. Lettersfrom the Kirghiz Steppe and fromParis. Departure for the Army. War. Distinction. Return to Moscow.
31. Retirement. Departure for Petersburg.The Difference between Petersburgand Moscow Society. A WickedPlan. The Unfortunate Olinka. I Am Imprisoned. It's Possible to Be HappyEven in a Disastrous Situation.
32. A Savior. It's the Crime, Not thePlace, That Dishonors a Man. A Just Punishment for a Villain. A Secret Revealed. Last Will and Testament.Love and Friendship. The Lawsuit. Solicitors. Secretaries. A Visit tothe Judges. There Are Good People Everywhere.

What People are Saying About This

John Randolph

Michael R. Katz's translation is excellent, and William Mills Todd III's introduction provides an authoritative, informative perspective on Faddei Bulgarin's work and its place in Russian literary history. This is what Tom Jones might look like in the Russian empire.

John W. Randolph

Michael R. Katz's translation is excellent, and William Mills Todd III's introduction provides an authoritative, informative perspective on Faddei Bulgarin's work and its place in Russian literary history. This is what Tom Jones might look like in the Russian empire.

Valeria Sobol

Katz provides an accurate and stylistically sensitive translation of an important novel. Todd's introduction offers an erudite outline of the novel's historical and literary background.