Drawing closely on Bulgakov's personal experiences of the horrors of civil war as a young doctor, The White Guard takes place in Kiev, 1918, a time of turmoil and suffocating uncertainty as the Bolsheviks, Socialists and Germans fight for control of the city. It tells the story of the Turbins, a once-wealthy Russian family, as they are forced to come to terms with revolution and a new regime.
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Review
A powerful reverie...the city is so vivid to the eye that it is the real hero of the book. (New Statesman )
One of those few emancipated Soviet writers who firmly believe-and still believe-that to create is to choose (Saturday Review )
Worth reading in any language (Library Journal )
The White Guard captures the tumult, madness and confusion of revolution (Independent )
One of those few emancipated Soviet writers who firmly believe-and still believe-that to create is to choose (Saturday Review )
Worth reading in any language (Library Journal )
The White Guard captures the tumult, madness and confusion of revolution (Independent )
Book Description
'The tumultuous atmospher of the Ukranian revolution and civil war is brilliantly evoked' Daily Telegraph
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Anarchy in the Ukraine: A beautiful depiction of the imbecility of war and its messy aftermath
30 Mar 2008
By Trevor Coote
Format:Paperback
I am one of those people who believe that the greatest novels have already been written. I also believe that they were written by Russians. Following on from the towering edifices of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky et al in the nineteenth century Mikhail Bulgakov (along with Mikhail Sholokov) was a worthy successor. This, his first work (originally recast into a play), tells the story of how the tumult of WWI/Revolution/Civil War impacted upon the unfortunate citizens of Kiev (then within the Russian Empire) as the city dissolves into a morass of confusion, turmoil and fear. White Guard royalists, Bolsheviks, Ukrainian nationalists, Cossacks, the rump German army, Poles, and even Senegalese troops, fight it out with nobody having the least notion of what is happening or even why. Commands and counter-commands, retreats, advances, rumours, counter-rumours, flight, corpses, chaos...
Whereas Tolstoy had sought to unravel the meaning and causes of war and Andreyev to describe graphically the horror, Bulgakov depicts the imbecility, the sheer monumental stupidity of it all, and its messy aftermath. He does this with a rare sensitivity through the experiences of the young Turbin family, a family of Tsarist patriots who live in an apartment in central Kiev. Following the death of their mother, twenty-eight year old Alex, a doctor, is left as the eldest, with his married (and abandoned) sister Elena, teenage brother Nikolai and their maid Anyuta. As ever with Russian novels in this tradition, we see the world through the eyes of real, thinking, feeling people, an ordinary family, caught up in the turbulence and having to make life-changing decisions with minimal or no information on which to base those decisions, and deeply concerned about the consequences of their actions on both their family and their own notions of self-worth. Like War and Peace, this book is a deeply moving look at the way different individuals respond to life's challenges and emerge as greater or lesser people.
The true tragedy for the people of the Ukraine (from 1922 a republic of the Soviet Union) is that this period of upheaval was followed by far greater horrors: the purges, the famine, the gulag, the Great Patriotic War; human sacrifices and loss on a scale that no other European country save neighbouring Russia and Poland has ever comparably suffered. As for Bulgakov, well it was a few years yet before he was to produce his fantasy masterpiece, The Master and Margarita, but this is a genuine classic, too.
Whereas Tolstoy had sought to unravel the meaning and causes of war and Andreyev to describe graphically the horror, Bulgakov depicts the imbecility, the sheer monumental stupidity of it all, and its messy aftermath. He does this with a rare sensitivity through the experiences of the young Turbin family, a family of Tsarist patriots who live in an apartment in central Kiev. Following the death of their mother, twenty-eight year old Alex, a doctor, is left as the eldest, with his married (and abandoned) sister Elena, teenage brother Nikolai and their maid Anyuta. As ever with Russian novels in this tradition, we see the world through the eyes of real, thinking, feeling people, an ordinary family, caught up in the turbulence and having to make life-changing decisions with minimal or no information on which to base those decisions, and deeply concerned about the consequences of their actions on both their family and their own notions of self-worth. Like War and Peace, this book is a deeply moving look at the way different individuals respond to life's challenges and emerge as greater or lesser people.
The true tragedy for the people of the Ukraine (from 1922 a republic of the Soviet Union) is that this period of upheaval was followed by far greater horrors: the purges, the famine, the gulag, the Great Patriotic War; human sacrifices and loss on a scale that no other European country save neighbouring Russia and Poland has ever comparably suffered. As for Bulgakov, well it was a few years yet before he was to produce his fantasy masterpiece, The Master and Margarita, but this is a genuine classic, too.
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful
By "goblinski"
Format:Paperback
Other than War and Peace, I can think of no better evocation of the random horror of war; like Tolstoy, Bulgakov doesn't allow us to draw easy conclusions in this, his first novel. The disjointed tapestry of a narrative is by turns anecdotal, fantastical (Satan swinging in the belfry is a wonderful image) and epic-heroic - and then just when you've settled in a comfortable reading pattern (as far as this is ever possible with Bulgakov) some terrible act of violence will shock you. It's not quite the finished article (see M&M), but the mixture of experimentation and classical realism is an engaging blend, making for a great read.
I would heartily recommend this to any fan of modern fiction, and anyone who's wondering where to go after Master and Margarita.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
`The White Guard' follows the story of a few days in the lives of a Ukranian family (the Turbins) living in Kiev during the final days of Russia's participation in WWI and with the revolution impending. The city is braced for the attack of the communists, led by the infamous and demonic figure of Petlyuria , putting its faith in the German army and Ukranian Hetman Skoropodsky for protection. As the townsfolk organise themselves into resistance movements, it soon becomes clear that Skoropodsky and the Germans have decided to abandon the people of Kiev to their fate. The Turbins, along with many others, rush to the defence of Kiev, only to find that their resistance has crumbled into an embarrassing mess as the war is lost before a shot is fired in anger. The book focuses on the actions of the people of Kiev, and the Turbins in particular, as they resign themselves to losing the war.
This book was less fantastic than `The Master and Marguerita', though some wonderful demonic imagery creeps in every now and then. Its strength lies in the contrast it draws between the glorious ideals of war and its rather banal reality. When Petlyuria's men take Kiev the people pour onto the streets in celebration, despite the fact that they despise him, and despite the fact that many of the celebrating people have no idea who has won. In the midst of this surreality, a brutal execution takes place, a reminder of the horrors going on around them. The resistance is presented as being a righteous cause, but right is ultimately not enough as might prevails. The final scenes, in which the Turbins abandon their dreams of fighting for a free Ukraine and begin to resign themselves to life under the Soviets are heartbreaking, both for their sense of failure and their sense of futility.
This is one of the best books about ordinary people at war that I have read (though not as good as Skvorecky's `The Cowards'). The contrast between what we think war is and what it is actually like is brilliantly realised, and by the end of the book I really felt the Turbins' despair. The events being told are firmly rooted in history, albeit a history I was largely ignorant of, which made it an interesting read anyway, but Bulgakov's superb writing and easy style meant that this book was a pleasure to read.
This book was less fantastic than `The Master and Marguerita', though some wonderful demonic imagery creeps in every now and then. Its strength lies in the contrast it draws between the glorious ideals of war and its rather banal reality. When Petlyuria's men take Kiev the people pour onto the streets in celebration, despite the fact that they despise him, and despite the fact that many of the celebrating people have no idea who has won. In the midst of this surreality, a brutal execution takes place, a reminder of the horrors going on around them. The resistance is presented as being a righteous cause, but right is ultimately not enough as might prevails. The final scenes, in which the Turbins abandon their dreams of fighting for a free Ukraine and begin to resign themselves to life under the Soviets are heartbreaking, both for their sense of failure and their sense of futility.
This is one of the best books about ordinary people at war that I have read (though not as good as Skvorecky's `The Cowards'). The contrast between what we think war is and what it is actually like is brilliantly realised, and by the end of the book I really felt the Turbins' despair. The events being told are firmly rooted in history, albeit a history I was largely ignorant of, which made it an interesting read anyway, but Bulgakov's superb writing and easy style meant that this book was a pleasure to read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fierce critic
In this novel about the civil war in Ukraine (we are in 1918), a white guard had to defend the city of Kiev against the Nationalist army of Symon Petliura. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Luc REYNAERT
5.0 out of 5 stars
An outstanding literary work
I know Bulgakov is most well known for Master and Margarita; but that book requires an understanding of the Soviet system, which was not in place when White Guard was written. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mr. K. H. Plunkett
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pitch perfect
Bulgakov is best known for Master and Margarita, which appears on University syllabuses, yet that perfectly enjoyable book is, compared to this wonderful novel, too clever-clever... Read more
Published 18 months ago by bookishman
5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't fear Russian litrature!
I am no literati and cannot claim to be an avid reader of Russian novels but having stumbled upon Mistress and Margerita (which I confess I enjoyed although did not entirely... Read more
Published 21 months ago by T. S. Burns
4.0 out of 5 stars
Vintage Russian
Bulganov is a writer I know from The Master and Margarita. This book is ostensibly about his experiences in the 1918 revolution but is a criticism of authoritarianism in any form. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Dr. Alan Green
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sub-Tolstoyan
This edition was translated by Michael Glenny, a seasoned and reliable translator of Russian novels and more. Read more
Published on 31 May 2010 by Lost John
3.0 out of 5 stars
Chronicle of a disappearing world
No less than four sides vie for control of Kiev in 1918. White Guard follows the fortunes of the monarchist Turbin family during this fateful year. Read more
Published on 17 Jan 2010 by Dublin 4
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book
Bulgakov portrays a wonderful depth of language in this exciting novel of one family in Kiev at the end of the First World War. Read more
Published on 2 Aug 2009 by G. Youngson
5.0 out of 5 stars
A vivid and enthralling portrait of a civil war
Obviously, one can't know what it's like to be caught up in the tumult of civil war but if any book can give an inkling it is this, Mikhail Bulgakov's first novel. Read more
Published on 2 April 2009 by Melmoth
5.0 out of 5 stars
Poetry In War
There are two ways to read this book: as a commentary on the carnival that is war and/or as poetry in verse. Read more
Published on 17 Aug 2008 by demola
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