Narrative
The Duel
Поединок
Alexander Kuprin · 1905
Opening lines
Вечерние занятия в шестой роте приходили к концу, и младшие офицеры всё чаще и нетерпеливее посматривали на часы.
The evening exercises of the sixth company were coming to an end, and the junior officers glanced at their watches ever more often and impatiently.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from ru.wikisource.org
Synopsis
In a small provincial garrison town, Second Lieutenant Romashov is bored: the drills, the blows the officers deal the soldiers, the debts, the evenings of drinking and gambling. He dreams of entering the staff academy, neglects his duties and becomes involved with two married women, including Shurochka, wife of the officer Nikolaev, whose only ambition is her husband's advancement. Yet he comes to the aid of a soldier who is being ill-treated.
Context
The book appeared in May 1905 in Saint Petersburg, in the sixth volume of the collections of the Znanie publishing society, with a dedication to Maxim Gorky. It made its author's reputation at a stroke and stirred lively controversy, through its depiction of garrison life and of the officers' brutality towards the soldiers. The author drew here on his own years of service: having left the Alexander military school in 1890, he had served until 1894 in a regiment stationed at Proskurov.
Who it is for
A garrison novel in a single block; Henri Mongault's translation, published as early as 1922, was reissued in 2006.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as its author's masterpiece; it has been adapted for the screen several times, from 1910 to a Russian television series of 2014.