Fyodor SologubRecensioni

Encore un petit livre des éditions Tendance Négative, qui aime à mettre en scène ses textes et qui trouve avec ce choix un terrain de jeu parfait. Ici, un homme de petite taille se sent humilié par la taille impressionnante de sa femme. Voulant remédier à la situation, comme on pouvait s’y attendre, il ne fait que l’empirer.
Voici donc une belle satire du culte de l’apparence et du qu’en-dira-t-on, à laquelle s’ajoute une belle pique lancée à la course au profit. Ce n’est pas un livre optimiste, aucun des protagonistes n’est véritablement sympathique, mais c’est une petite nouvelle qui se lit avec plaisir, et la mise en page originale des éditions Tendance Négative, dont c’est la deuxième création que je lis, rend la lecture ludique, sans masquer le côté grinçant du texte.

Its not your typical classic Russian Novel. And it most certainly is NOT Dostoevsky but that's okay. "The Petty Demon" is an entertaining and revealing romp through the realities of rural Russian life at the beginning of the 20th century. Sologub mixes humor, sensuality, and horror in what one reviewer called "the high water mark of Russian Decadent prose".

Thanks to numerous edits, censoring, and translations, the text can be a bit choppy at times but the fascinating description of the main character's mental decline keeps the reader engaged.

If you're up for a well-written, none-too-serious, and entertaining read, this is a book for you. Not to mention, you will learn about "nedotykomka".

Very enjoyable tale of provincial madness, marred only by a too-rigid adherence to Gogol's 'character goes around to visit other characters, hilarity ensues' mode. And that passes soon enough.

Sottoscrivo il commento di Razgul. Non avrei potuto aggiungere nulla. Se non che sarò eternamente grato a chi me lo ha fatto scoprire ;-)

Very well written (translated) short story about a woman and her child. I found it real and surreal.

It wasn't too bad of a book. I just couldn't really get into it because everything seemed to move slowly. Although there were interesting bits where I wanted to keep reading. Those moments were fleeting, unfortunately. What I can say was that the ending was good. There was a build up that was really slow, as I said, but the outcome made a good read.

Its pretty much about a man trying to get into a higher station in life and being paranoid the whole way there. There is scandalous side story that, in my opinion, was the best part of the book. Which is why it only earned 3 stars.

This is a great romp into the darkness of man, the petty demon inside all of us. Because the title does not refer only to Peredònov as one might initially think, but to the stupid egoisms and fears that make us all petty paranoiacs.
The book is hilarious with some great visual humor which I think someone should capture in theatre. Maybe take a chapter or two or something, and make a little 3-act play.
It gets more surreal as you turn the pages until that final shock which you knew was coming....

Sad little story about a dying girl and her mother.