The White Guard review

Mikhail Bulgakov is one of my favorite authors, and this book has been on my reading list for far too long. I’ve had a copy of it for years, albeit a copy in the original Russian. I’m somewhat ashamed of the fact that I’ve allowed my Russian skills to languish to the point that I had to purchase an English translation in order to finally read The White Guard, but a little shame should never stand in the way of a worthwhile read! This story was known more widely in its play form than as a book (Stalin was said to have seen the play 15 times), just as Bulgakov was known better as a playwright than as an author, due to the suppression of his fiction by Soviet censorship. Before he was known as a playwright in Moscow he was a doctor who served in the White Army and specialized in the treatment of venereal diseases in Kiev. Likewise the character Alexei Turbin is a doctor with the same specialty who is also involved in the White resistance. The White Guard is largely biographical, as the Turbin family occupies the same apartment where the Bulgakov family lived and Mikhail practiced. The seven Bulgakov siblings are reduced to three Turbins, Alexei, Elena, and Nikolka, and it is through their experiences that we see the Socialist siege of Kiev during the winter of 1918-1919. During the Civil War that followed the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 Kiev was occupied by the German army, the Whites or monarchists, the Socialists, and the Bolsheviks. The White Guard aptly and accurately depicts the upheaval and confusion that reigned in Kiev during this period. Bulgakov left Kiev and medicine for Moscow and literature in 1921. Through his departure from Kiev we are able to re-visit it nearly a century later in the pages of The White Guard. Art is the ultimate victory of resistance.

Current Reading List

I’ve finished reading the two books that weren’t on my list and just when I was about to start The White Guard by Mikhail Bulgakov along came another welcome deviation, courtesy of my intrepid Book Travelers West rep Phoebe Gaston! She sent me an advance copy of The Resurrectionist by Jack O’Connell, which comes out next month from Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. Algonquin puts out such a nice selection I was inclined to buy everything in their catalog; it’s no wonder Phoebe is so enthusiastic about her line of work!

Current Reading List

1. Sign of the Book by John Dunning (a hard cover copy I picked up free at the university’s employee appreciation day)

2. Twenty Chickens for a Saddle by Robyn Scott (an advance reader copy; she’s coming to our store for a signing)

3. Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips

4. Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon (the Coen brothers are making it into a movie)

5. White Guard by Mikhail Bulgakov

6. Golden Bough by James George Frazer

7. Orlando Innamorato by Matteo Boairdo

More or less in that order!

Top Ten Books

There are many ways to slant a top ten list, but this is my straight up Top Ten Books list (arranged alphabetically by author):

1. Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto

2. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

3. The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell

4. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

5. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

6. On Writing by Stephen King

7. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

8. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

9. Mila 18 by Leon Uris

10. Trinity by Leon Uris

While no individual title by C.S. Lewis has cracked the list (I have yet to acquire Allegory of Love, so it may still happen), his collected works are certainly among my favorites.