The White Guard Kindle Edition

A lesser known work by Bulgakov, which gets to many of the key issues that face Kiev, especially today: clash of philosophies, clash of cultures, the vacuum of power within a society that has learned to sell itself out for short term individual gain and the promise of greener grasses. Much of the story is based on actual events and places around the taking of Kiev by the Communists in the followup to the Russian Revolution, though twisted in a very Bulgakov way. Bulgakov has a strong sense of the finer parts of czarist (white) culture vs. the rougher parts of communist (red) culture, all visualized in the bloody path poured upon the snow by the various fighting parties (there are at least three, sound familiar?).But regardless of Bulgakov's clear preference for things czarist, White Guard was (reportedly) a favorite play of Stalin, who found an appreciation for the cinematic characteristics of Bulgakov's story-telling.Best read over a snowy weekend.

A facinating and enjoyable book by a master who briliantly brings to life this chaotic time in Ukrainian and Russian history in 1918/19 and how the fates of one anti communist family mirrored the wider tragedy

I have been looking for a copy of Bulgakov's "The White Guard" since I visited his home, No. 13, on the street descending to the Lavra in Kiev, when I visited the city in 1999. Finally took the time to purchase a copy after reading the article about Bulgakov in "Russian Life" magazine, May/June 2016, pp. 30-36. Excellent view of White Russian city in the midst of the Ukraine.

This translation of Mikhail Bulgakov's masterpiece should be on the shelf of any true claimant of literary works of art. Attention to detail, rich descriptions of life in and around Kiev, during another violent time in Ukraine's history. The pages of this tome are to be savored, like a fine wine. The time between the end of WWI, and the beginning of the Russian Revolution, are indeed requisites for any serious student of history. A jewel among books of a similar genre.

The 1920s can be lost years in Russian history, especially in areas outside of Moscow or Petersburg. Bulgakov's novel effectively communicates the turmoil and confusion of 1920s Ukraine for middle class and upper middle class families. You may need to read about some of the historical figures to better understand the events, but you will definitely understand the emotions of the time regardless.

I liked this book a lot, however, I'm not sure that it is the best translation since some of the sentences were incomplete and choppy. I'll read it again, but instead of Michale Glenny's translation, I'll try Marian Schwart's translation.

Interesting story!

Just read it and marvel

It is 1918, and Kiev in the Ukraine is at the swirling centre of the forces unleashed by war and revolution. The three Turbin siblings live in the house of their recently deceased mother in the city. They are White Russians, still loyal to the Russian Tsar, hoping against hope that he may have escaped the Bolsheviks and be living still. But there are other factions too – the German Army have installed a puppet leader, the Hetman Skoropadsky, and the Ukranian peasantry are on the march in a nationalist movement, under their leader Petlyura. This is the story of a few short days when the fate of the city seems up for grabs, and the lives of the Turbins, like so many in those turbulent times, are under constant threat."Great and terrible was the year of Our Lord 1918, of the Revolution the second. Its summer abundant with warmth and sun, its winter with snow, highest in its heaven stood two stars: the shepherds' star, eventide Venus; and Mars – quivering, red."I found the beginning of this book rather difficult because I had no idea who all the various factions and real-life characters were, nor what they were attempting to achieve. But I soon realised that in this I differed less from the fictional characters than I first thought. This is a book about confusion and betrayal, shifting allegiances, chaos and fear. Bulgakov takes a panoramic approach, following one character and then panning off to another. This gives it an episodic feel and adds to the sense of events moving too quickly for the people involved ever to fully grasp. The Turbins actually aren't in it a lot of the time, but they provide a thread for us to catch at in the maze, and a human side to the story for us to care about.One of the early episodes tells the story of the soldier Victor, a friend of the Turbins, who with 39 companions is ordered to defend the city from the approaching forces of Petlyura. Ill-equipped and insufficiently clothed for the extreme cold, two of the men die of frostbite and the rest are lucky to survive. They achieve nothing. While reading this, I was simultaneously reading the beginning of Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution, where he talks of the mass mobilisation of workers and peasants into the Russian army to fight against Germany in WW1. His description of the ill-trained, poorly-equipped troops dying needlessly in vast numbers is chillingly similar and I found that each book lent verisimilitude to the other.Although the Turbins are on the side of the Tsar, the book itself doesn't seem to take a political stance. If anything, it paints an equally despicable picture of all the various faction leaders, as cowards hiding behind the men they send carelessly to their deaths. As senior officers on all sides run into hiding, middle-ranking officers are left to decide whether to make a stand or disband their troops, many of them no more than young boys in cadet corps. It gives an only too credible feeling for the chaos in the city, for people not knowing what's happening, and for each new rumour spreading like wildfire. Amidst all this, we see odd glimpses of life continuing – boys out playing in the snow, workers making their way to their jobs, people shopping. Through the Turbin brothers, Nikolka and Alexei, we see the battle each man must individually face between fear and heroism, while Elena, their sister, must wait at home, praying for their safety.In the gaps between scenes of extreme brutality, Bulgakov lets us glimpse his love for the city. He describes the streets his characters pass through, the alleyways they use to escape, the ancient cathedral, the huge statue of Saint Vladimir on the hill above the city. But we are never allowed to forget the approaching threat..."But the brightest light of all was the white cross held by the gigantic statue of St Vladimir atop Vladimir Hill. It could be seen from far, far away and often in summer, in thick black mist, amid the osier-beds and tortuous meanders of the age-old river, the boatmen would see it and by its light would steer their way to the City and its wharves. In winter the cross would glow through the dense black clouds, a frozen unmoving landmark towering above the gently sloping expanse of the eastern bank, whence two vast bridges were flung across the river. One, the ponderous Chain Bridge that led to the right-bank suburbs, the other high, slim and urgent as an arrow that carried the trains from where, far away, crouched another city, threatening and mysterious: Moscow."As the chaos worsens, so we see the atrocities that are never far from war – the criminals jumping on the lack of order to terrorise an already demoralised citizenry, the bodies left unidentified and unclaimed in the City's morgue, the wounded frightened to seek help for fear of capture. Not quite knowing who every faction was made it even more unsettling, though I wondered if Bulgakov's first readers would have known, and so might have read it differently.A truly brilliant book that, while concentrating on one small city, gives a brutal and terrifyingly believable picture of the horrors unleashed in the wake of bloody revolution. And here we are, one hundred years later, with Moscow again invading the Ukraine – this troubled and divided territory still fighting what is essentially the same war..."The snow would just melt, the green Ukranian grass would grow again and weave its carpet over the earth... The gorgeous sunrises would come again... The air would shimmer with heat above the fields and no more traces of blood would remain. Blood is cheap on those red fields and no one would redeem it.No one."

Originally appearing in serial form unfortunately that particular magazine was closed down before the whole book was finished in appearing in it, with only about two thirds appearing, and thus for Russians really they only knew about this story due to the play that it spawned. Of course here we have the entire novel, from beginning to end.And so we follow the fortunes of the Turbin family and others in a rather turbulent period, one which was to see the rise of the Bolsheviks. As Germany loses the First World War and withdraw from the Ukraine so the people are hearing of a revolution in Russia.Thus the Turbin’s who are middle class, a part of the bourgeoisie find themselves in the centre of things, as they reside in Kiev. The city itself shines through all the time, showing Mikhail Bulgakov’s love for the place. With rumours flying around and genuine news in high demand the people have no way of really knowing of what is happening, as different armies fight it out. For some the hopes of a fully independent Ukraine run high, whereas others just want to remain under Russian rule.Semi-autobiographical in places, and full of incident we see the corruption, anti-Semitism, problems and desires of all the major groups in winning the Ukraine and Kiev, as Bulgakov gives us something that really doesn’t take sides with any particular group. In all a rather hectic period of real history is brought to life in an easily understood story in this wonderful novel.

This edition was translated by Michael Glenny, a seasoned and reliable translator of Russian novels and more. Mikhail Bulgakov's work came late to publication in English (from 1967) and is still not as well known as it should be.  The Master And Margarita (Penguin Classics) , begun in 1928 and completed sometime before his death in 1940, but not officially published until 1966, is his greatest work, but White Guard (1926) also merits attention as a novel, as a semi-autobiographical work, and as a document of the Civil War waged over Kiev, Ukraine and Russia following the October 1917 revolution.Bulgakov asserted that Kiev changed hands 14 times during 1918-19 and that he personally witnessed 10 of those changes. This novel presents just a snapshot; the departure of the German Imperial Army and its puppet, the Hetman of Ukraine; their replacement by the opportunist peasant leader Petlyura; and his departure 47 days later as the Bolshevik Red Army advanced on the city. In the background are the Ukrainian nationalist movement that briefly held Ukraine as an independent sovereign state, and the White Guard, supporting Imperial Russia and reinstatement of the Tsar. Bulgakov's alter ego, Alexie Turbin, and his brother Nikolai are White Guard officers who, along with a number of friends also featured in the novel (and indeed much of the population of Kiev), are placed in danger of their lives as Petlyura takes over the city.Bulgakov's view of war leans towards the Tolstoyan - the utter insignificance, historically, of Petlyura, and of the puppet Hetman before him, of whose pompous strutting and inability to speak Ukrainian Bulgakov makes comedy; the sheer waste of life, youth and energy sacrificed in fighting war. "Everything passes away, suffering, pain, blood, hunger, pestilence. The sword will pass away too, but the stars will still remain when the shadows of our presence and our deeds have vanished from the earth. There is no man who does not know this. Why then will we not turn our eyes towards the stars? Why?" Bulgakov also seems to foresee tribulations yet to come for Ukraine; "Blood is cheap on those red fields, and no-one would redeem it. No-one."But the novel is not all philosophical reflection; far from it. There is plenty of military action, written, as with Tolstoy, with the authority of personal experience and woven into the domestic and civic circumstances of the participants, plus a loving description of the Bulgakov family home as it can still be seen in Kiev. For those acquainted with Kiev, it is also possible to trace much of the action, street by street. Civil War brings battlefield and domestic hearth excruciatingly close. Although the centenary of the Russian Revolution fast approaches, Bulgakov's novel remains very much a document for our time. The Master And Margarita (Penguin Classics)

I have not read enough Russian literature to know if this is typical of the genre, leaving that aside, found the writing incredibly vivid. The rapid scan changes and interweaving life lines reminded me of a Paul Greengrass movie, after reading I felt that I had detailed memories of innerly engraved scenes though plot was often lost in the sensory experience. I read this book whilst the siege of Aleppo was playing on CNN, this is very much a book for our times even if it deals with the rise of an empire that has already been consigned to history

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. This book is about the still unsettled remains of the Russian Empire; the Bolsheviks do not yet have absolute control; except in Russia itself perhaps; and that somewhat tenuously. The other states want self determination; and Ukraine with it's own language is the stage on which this tale is set. Ukraine - for long controlled by first the Poles and then German settlers wants to rule itself. The Russians or Russe - who came from Ukraine originally want to retain the Tsarist way and foreign Governments and nations seek to dominate the outcome. All of this Bulgakov weaves together in this tragic tale where lives are destroyed brutally amidst incompetence of a staggering nature. The outcomes are neither predictable nor are they always desirable; but this is what happenedI have now read all of Bulgakov's translated works and I would recommend them to anyone. Here is humour and tragedy and heroism in a truly epic book of the early twentieth century. I was spellbound until the last page. I loved all of the characters with their imperfections that somehow endeared them to me even more. Read this book please I beg you!

After reading 'The Master and Margarita' I wanted to read more Bulgakov. The White Guard is a well crafted novel which is based on Bulgakov's own experiences in the Russian Civil War. It conjures up very vivid images, once read, never forgotten. Essential reading for anyone interested in Russian history/culture.

Intriguing as it is set in the Ukraine, which is very steeped in history, and around that time, there was a lot of upheavals. Thr ukraine, i have always found fascinating, and a bit mysterious

This is one of the best novels I've read. It is shorter than Tolstoy's 'War and Peace', but just as moving and shocking. Bulgakov is one of the most original novelists. His imagery is brilliant and he is able to convey the suffering of the Ukrainian people in a time of complete turmoil and political upheaval.

Prompt delivery and item as described

Could not stop reading until the end. A magnificent canvas of realist and surrealist stories linked by impeccable figures. Excellent translation. A Russian poetry in action.

Wonderful contemporaneous novel of tragic times

Went into the book having read a couple of Bulgakov's other works (The Heart Of A Dog, Diaboliad) both of which I thoroughly enjoyed, particularly as comical, satirical stories. Going into The White Guard I wasn't expecting such a display of brilliant, tense story telling... 'tis good.

Xmas presents

I found the book very informative about a time and place previously unknown to me but in many ways quite important.The narrative is interesting and evokes the personalities of both the characters and the place (Kiev) very effectively.I liked the way the author brought out the human side of the story where the characters are caught up in events and politics beyond their control.An important new author discovered as far as I am concerned.

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. Rather difficult to read as it has a discursive and almost poetic style. Excellent printing.