Russian revolutionary and French-language author (1890–1947)
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Victor Serge (French:[viktɔʁsɛʁʒ]; December 30, 1890 – November 17, 1947), born Victor Lvovich Kibalchich (
Russian: Ви́ктор Льво́вич Киба́льчич), was a Russian revolutionary
Marxist, novelist, poet and historian. Originally an
anarchist, he joined the
Bolsheviks five months after arriving in
Petrograd in January 1919 and later worked for the
Comintern as a journalist, editor and translator. He was critical of the
Stalinist regime and remained a revolutionary Marxist until his death. He is best remembered for his Memoirs of a Revolutionary and series of seven "witness-novels" chronicling the lives of Soviet people and revolutionaries and of the first half of the 20th century, the best-known of which is The Case of Comrade Tulayev (
French: L'affaire Toulaev).
Nicholas Lezard calls the novel " of the great 20th-century Russian novels" that follows the traditions of "
Gogolian absurdity".[1]
Works available in English
Fiction
The Long Dusk or Last Times (1946) Translator:
Ralph Manheim; New York : The Dial Press. Translation of Les derniers temps, Montreal 1946.
The Case of Comrade Tulayev (1967) Translator: Willard R. Trask; New York : New York Review of Books Classics. Translation of L'Affaire Toulaev. Paris 1949.
Birth of our Power (1967) Translator: Richard Greeman; New York : Doubleday. Translation of Naissance de notre force, Paris 1931.
Men in Prison (1969) Translator: Richard Greeman; Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Translation of Les hommes dans le prison, Paris 1930.
Conquered City (1975) Translator: Richard Greeman; Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Translation of: Ville conquise, Paris 1932.
Midnight in the Century (1982) Translator: Richard Greeman; London : Readers and Writers. Translation of S'il est minuit dans le siècle, Paris 1939.
Unforgiving Years (2008) Translator: Richard Greeman; New York : New York Review of Books Classics. Translation of Les Années sans pardon, Paris 1971.
Poems
Resistance (1989) Translator: James Brooks; San Francisco: City Lights. Translation of Résistance, Paris 1938.
Non-fiction: books
From Lenin to Stalin (1937) Translator: Ralph Manheim; New York: Pioneer Publishers. Translation of De Lénine à Staline, Paris 1937.
Russia Twenty Years After (1937) Translator: Max Shachtman; New York: Pioneer Publishers. Translation of Destin d'une révolution, Paris 1937. Also published as Destiny of a Revolution.
Memoirs of a Revolutionary, 1901–1941 (2012) Translator: Peter Sedgwick with George Paizis; New York: New York Review of Books Classics. Translation of Mémoires d'un révolutionnaire, 1901–1941, Paris 1951.
Year One of the Russian Revolution (1972) Translator: Peter Sedgwick; London: Allen Lane. Translation of L'An 1 de la révolution russe, Paris 1930.
The Life and Death of Leon Trotsky (1973) (with
Natalia Sedova Trotsky) Translator:
Arnold J. Pomerans; Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Translation of: Vie et mort de Leon Trotsky, Paris 1951.
What Everyone Should Know About State Repression (1979) Translator: Judith White; London: New Park Publications. Translation of Les Coulisses d'une Sûreté générale. Ce que tout révolutionnaire devrait savoir sur la répression, Paris 1926.
Notebooks 1936-1947 (2019) Translators: Mitchell Abidor and Richard Greeman; New York: New York Review of Books.
Non-fiction: collections of essays and articles
The Century of the Unexpected – Essays on Revolution and Counter-Revolution (1994) Editor:
Al Richardson; special issue of Revolutionary History, Vol.5 No.3.
The Serge-Trotsky Papers (1994) Editor: D.J. Cotterill; London: Pluto.
Revolution in Danger – Writings from Russia 1919–1921 (1997) Translator:
Ian Birchall; London: Redwords.
The Ideas of Victor Serge: A Life as a Work of Art (1997), Edited by Susan Weissman, London: Merlin Press.
Witness to the German Revolution (2000) Translator: Ian Birchall; London: Redwords.
Collected Writings on Literature and Revolution (2004) Translator and editor: Al Richardson; London: Francis Boutle.
Non-fiction: pamphlet
Kronstadt '21 (1975) Translator: not named; London: Solidarity.
Sources: British Library Catalogue and Catalog of the Library of Congress.
Bulletin of the Russian Opposition:
"Victor Serge and the IVth International". Statement criticising Serge by the editors of the Bulletin of the Russian Opposition, writing in Quatrième Internationale, April 1939. Source: Victor Serge & Leon Trotsky, La Lutte Contre le Stalinisme. Maspero, Paris, 1977. Translated for Marxist Internet Archive by Mitch Abidor in 2005. Retrieved April 28, 2005.
Victor Serge Papers. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.