Olesya: THE WITCH is a nove by Alexander Kuprin written in late 1897-98. The story was one of Kuprin's favorites. Referring once to both Olesya and his later work "The River of Life," he said: "There is life in it and freshness and... more of my soul than in my other tales."
Ivan Timofeevich seeks restorative peace in Polesye, but gets only...More
Aleksandr Ivanovich Kuprin (7 September [O.S. 26 August] 1870 – 25 August 1938) was a Russian writer best known for his novels The Duel and The Pit, Moloch & Olesya.
In Petersburg Kuprin found himself in the center of Russian cultural life. He became friends with Anton Chekhov whom he regularly corresponded with up until the latter's death in 1904, often seeking his advice.
The Duel became the literary sensation of the year in Russia. In 1905 some 45.5 thousand copies were sold, a vast number for the early 1900s. The controversy this novel caused continued until 1917. Critics of the left welcomed The Duel as "another nail in the coffin of autocracy."
Aleksandr Ivanovich Kuprin (7 September [O.S. 26 August] 1870 – 25 August 1938) was a Russian writer best known for his novels The Duel and The Pit, Moloch & Olesya.
In Petersburg Kuprin found himself in the center of Russian cultural life. He became friends with Anton Chekhov whom he regularly corresponded with up until the latter's death in 1904, often seeking his advice.
The Duel became the literary sensation of the year in Russia. In 1905 some 45.5 thousand copies were sold, a vast number for the early 1900s. The controversy this novel caused continued until 1917. Critics of the left welcomed The Duel as "another nail in the coffin of autocracy."
Book Summary
Olesya: THE WITCH is a nove by Alexander Kuprin written in late 1897-98. The story was one of Kuprin's favorites. Referring once to both Olesya and his later work "The River of Life," he said: "There is life in it and freshness and... more of my soul than in my other tales."
Ivan Timofeevich seeks restorative peace in Polesye, but gets only intolerable boredom, from which the prospect of meeting a real witch offers a welcome diversion. Once, having lost his way in the woods, he hits upon a hut where abide an old woman and her granddaughter, hated and feared in the village for alleged sorcery. The narrator, who is deeply intrigued and touched by the girl's natural beauty, intelligence, insight and indeed some uncanny talents, becomes a frequent visitor, much for the displeasure of the old woman. Ivan and Olesya become close friends, then lovers, sharing deep and passionate mutual affection, doomed from the start - as Olesya's cards had foretold her.
According to the Kuprin scholar Nicholas Luker, "Olesya is the most charming of Kuprin's rural tales. Though meant at first to be only part of the Volhynia and Polesye cycle, this poetic story of the love between an urban intellectual and a beautiful country girl expanded into a full novelette of a significance far surpassing that of the other regional tales."