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Wings
A key text in the history of gay literature, Wings was published in 1906 to the scandalized reaction of contemporary society and the generations which followed. Its central theme of aestheticized sensuality has drawn comparisons with the work of contemporaries Oscar Wilde and André Gide. The young Vanya Smurov is deeply attached to his mentor, Dr. Larion Stroop, and to the world of Renaissance art which the latter reveals to him. Initially appalled by the sudden discovery of Stroop's homosexual leanings, Vanya abandons him to pursue a "normal" heterosexual existence. In turn disgusted by ensuing encounters, he returns to Dr. Stroop and accompanies him to Italy where he begins his real education—both in the world of art, and that of hedonism.
112 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1905
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About the author
Mikhail Kuzmin
83books24followersMikhail Alekseevich Kuzmin (Russian: Михаил Алексеевич Кузмин) was a Russian poet, musician and novelist, a prominent contributor to the Silver Age of Russian Poetry.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews
November 22, 2018
3.5, rounded down.
This short novella is mainly remembered now for being one of the first modern Russian works to deal with the subject of homosexuality - but it is treated so obliquely, as to not really be the focus, and there is nothing at all explicit or erotic in its meanderings. Rather, the more interesting aspect is its modern structure... it is composed entirely of brief scenes, always caught in media res. Often, the characters are not even defined, and one has to muddle one's way to decipher exactly what is going on or who these people even are.
If the book were any longer (the text itself in this splendid translation comes in at barely 90 pages), it would probably wear out its welcome, but it holds one's interest well enough, and even comes to a satisfying conclusion, as its naïf hero, who has been alternately avoiding and being fascinated by an older aesthete, overcomes his skittishness and decides to 'go for it'.
This short novella is mainly remembered now for being one of the first modern Russian works to deal with the subject of homosexuality - but it is treated so obliquely, as to not really be the focus, and there is nothing at all explicit or erotic in its meanderings. Rather, the more interesting aspect is its modern structure... it is composed entirely of brief scenes, always caught in media res. Often, the characters are not even defined, and one has to muddle one's way to decipher exactly what is going on or who these people even are.
If the book were any longer (the text itself in this splendid translation comes in at barely 90 pages), it would probably wear out its welcome, but it holds one's interest well enough, and even comes to a satisfying conclusion, as its naïf hero, who has been alternately avoiding and being fascinated by an older aesthete, overcomes his skittishness and decides to 'go for it'.
April 4, 2022
As a good housewife stores up both cabbage and cucumbers at the right time, knowing you can't get hold of them later on, so we, Vanya, have to look our fill and love our fill and breathe our fill all in good time!
4.5 A very moving, impressionistic novella about ostensibly a love not speaking its name, when in fact said love won't cease giving itself justification. There's a suicide which appears to be par and there's a trip to Italy. No madness, seizures, duels nor breast pounding in a cemetery. This is part of my recent plumbing of my slavic soul. During my reading I felt the accompaniment of Teffi's guitar, she had an ear for that detail. I also enjoyed the rumination on languages and translation.
4.5 A very moving, impressionistic novella about ostensibly a love not speaking its name, when in fact said love won't cease giving itself justification. There's a suicide which appears to be par and there's a trip to Italy. No madness, seizures, duels nor breast pounding in a cemetery. This is part of my recent plumbing of my slavic soul. During my reading I felt the accompaniment of Teffi's guitar, she had an ear for that detail. I also enjoyed the rumination on languages and translation.
August 12, 2018
I am faced with two dilemmas when encountering art that depicts a sexual relationship between a teenaged boy and an older man: the first is, of course, the age difference/grooming, the effect of which is augmented in books like Wings and movies like Call Me By Your Name, where the older mentor schools the impressionable boy in art, literature, and philosophy. This kind of relationship also bothers me because it makes homosexuality seem like a lifestyle choice more than a biological preference, as well as a distinctly Western phenomenon that is inherently alien to Russia. Shtrup, the object of admiration, fascination, and, eventually, erotic desire for the protagonist Vania, is himself an ethnic Englishman.
Still, Wings repeatedly declares that homosexuality is not only natural, but a gift from God Himself. It is in these passages that Kuzmin’s language—pardon the shameless pun—just soars. This is the first longer work I’ve read in Russian, and, while it was laborious, my life was enriched by the beauty of the original language. I like how the work is made up of short impressionistic sketches, with snatches of dialogue about the nature of love and descriptions of the Russian countryside. At the same time, the characters who so eloquently call homosexuality natural are, if not pedophiles, certainly pederasts (and both are harmful to children, full stop). Kuzmin presents Maria Dmitrievna’s attempted seduction of Vania as attempted rape, after she delivers some of the most passionate defenses of following one’s own desires despite societal norms. We think she’s talking about homosexuality—and in one passage, where she name-drops past gay Russians, she actually is—but, in general, is she really just trying to justify her desire for the much-younger Vania?
The treatment of Maria Dmitrievna (why is she, a 30 year old woman, an attempted rapist, while the 30 year old man Shtrup is the central romantic interest?) brings me to a second dilemma I am often faced with, and that is gay men’s dangerous predilection for misogyny. On the one hand, Kuzmin, by giving women beautiful monologues about love, could be arguing that they, as another oppressed group in society, can understand and sympathize with homosexuality more than straight men can. But, as previously mentioned, our last impression of Maria Dmitrievna is as an attempted rapist. Elsewhere, Vania describes a woman as an ugly cow and the author repeatedly presents women as gossipy, vain, and obsessive, even dangerous for the men whom they entrap.
I’m not saying we should accept Vania and Shtrup’s relationship as ideal and holy, as Kuzmin might want us to. However, I think we should also consider why we aren’t similarly creeped out by 16 year-old Natasha Rostova falling in love with Prince Andrei in War and Peace. We can recognize these relationships in classic literature, between men and women and men and men, as imperfect and even toxic. But we can also, I think, celebrate Wings for boldly and unabashedly proclaiming that gay love is not only real but uplifting and euphoric—that it can give confused, frustrated, closeted men wings.
Still, Wings repeatedly declares that homosexuality is not only natural, but a gift from God Himself. It is in these passages that Kuzmin’s language—pardon the shameless pun—just soars. This is the first longer work I’ve read in Russian, and, while it was laborious, my life was enriched by the beauty of the original language. I like how the work is made up of short impressionistic sketches, with snatches of dialogue about the nature of love and descriptions of the Russian countryside. At the same time, the characters who so eloquently call homosexuality natural are, if not pedophiles, certainly pederasts (and both are harmful to children, full stop). Kuzmin presents Maria Dmitrievna’s attempted seduction of Vania as attempted rape, after she delivers some of the most passionate defenses of following one’s own desires despite societal norms. We think she’s talking about homosexuality—and in one passage, where she name-drops past gay Russians, she actually is—but, in general, is she really just trying to justify her desire for the much-younger Vania?
The treatment of Maria Dmitrievna (why is she, a 30 year old woman, an attempted rapist, while the 30 year old man Shtrup is the central romantic interest?) brings me to a second dilemma I am often faced with, and that is gay men’s dangerous predilection for misogyny. On the one hand, Kuzmin, by giving women beautiful monologues about love, could be arguing that they, as another oppressed group in society, can understand and sympathize with homosexuality more than straight men can. But, as previously mentioned, our last impression of Maria Dmitrievna is as an attempted rapist. Elsewhere, Vania describes a woman as an ugly cow and the author repeatedly presents women as gossipy, vain, and obsessive, even dangerous for the men whom they entrap.
I’m not saying we should accept Vania and Shtrup’s relationship as ideal and holy, as Kuzmin might want us to. However, I think we should also consider why we aren’t similarly creeped out by 16 year-old Natasha Rostova falling in love with Prince Andrei in War and Peace. We can recognize these relationships in classic literature, between men and women and men and men, as imperfect and even toxic. But we can also, I think, celebrate Wings for boldly and unabashedly proclaiming that gay love is not only real but uplifting and euphoric—that it can give confused, frustrated, closeted men wings.
February 9, 2018
"And people saw that every sort of beauty, every sort of love was from the gods, and they became free and bold, and they grew wings."
---
"Love has no other objective beyond itself; nature is also devoid of any shadow of the idea of finality. The laws of nature are of a completely different category to the laws of God, so called, and men. The law of nature is not that a given tree must produce its fruit, but that in certain conditions it will produce a fruit, and in others it will not, and will even die itself, just as fairly and simply as it would have borne fruit. That on the introduction of a knife into a heart, it may stop beating; there is no finality here, no good and evil. And the law of nature can be broken only by the man who can kiss his eyes without their having been torn from their sockets, and see the back of his head without a mirror. And when you're told, "it's unnatural", you just look at the blind man who said it and pass by, without becoming like the sparrows that scatter away from a kitchen garden scarecrow. People walk around like blind men, like dead men, when they could create the most ardent life, where all enjoyment would be so heightened, it would be as if you had only just been born and would die at any moment. lt is with precisely such greed that everything must be appreciated."
---
" 'And it's not true what the old women say, making out the body is sinful, flowers, beauty are sinful, washing yourself is sinful. Wasn't it the Lord that created it all: the water, and the trees, and the body? It's sinful to resist the Lord's will: when, for example, someone is marked out for something, strains for it, and it's not allowed-that's sinful! And how you have to hurry, Vanya, there just aren't the words for it! As a good housewife stores up both cabbage and cucumbers at the right time, knowing you can't get hold of them later on, so we, Vanya, have to look our fill and love our fill and breathe our fill all in good time! Does our life last long? And our youth is even shorter, and a minute that passes will never return, and that should always be remembered; then everything would be twice as sweet, like for an infant that's only just opened its eyes, or for a dying man.' "
---
"Love has no other objective beyond itself; nature is also devoid of any shadow of the idea of finality. The laws of nature are of a completely different category to the laws of God, so called, and men. The law of nature is not that a given tree must produce its fruit, but that in certain conditions it will produce a fruit, and in others it will not, and will even die itself, just as fairly and simply as it would have borne fruit. That on the introduction of a knife into a heart, it may stop beating; there is no finality here, no good and evil. And the law of nature can be broken only by the man who can kiss his eyes without their having been torn from their sockets, and see the back of his head without a mirror. And when you're told, "it's unnatural", you just look at the blind man who said it and pass by, without becoming like the sparrows that scatter away from a kitchen garden scarecrow. People walk around like blind men, like dead men, when they could create the most ardent life, where all enjoyment would be so heightened, it would be as if you had only just been born and would die at any moment. lt is with precisely such greed that everything must be appreciated."
---
" 'And it's not true what the old women say, making out the body is sinful, flowers, beauty are sinful, washing yourself is sinful. Wasn't it the Lord that created it all: the water, and the trees, and the body? It's sinful to resist the Lord's will: when, for example, someone is marked out for something, strains for it, and it's not allowed-that's sinful! And how you have to hurry, Vanya, there just aren't the words for it! As a good housewife stores up both cabbage and cucumbers at the right time, knowing you can't get hold of them later on, so we, Vanya, have to look our fill and love our fill and breathe our fill all in good time! Does our life last long? And our youth is even shorter, and a minute that passes will never return, and that should always be remembered; then everything would be twice as sweet, like for an infant that's only just opened its eyes, or for a dying man.' "
April 29, 2018
GAY LOVE HAS TO OVERCOME MANY OBSTACLES
Kuzmin was a Russian poet who died in the 1930s under the Soviet rule he supported. This novella is important in many ways because it is easier to read than poetry, but yet the main theme is that of Kuzmin’s poetry, love in all possible forms.
A good man, “Vanya, Ваня, a unisex diminutive of the Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian and other Slavic given name Ivan. It is the Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian and other Slavic form of John, itself derived from a Hebrew name, meaning "God is gracious" or "Gracious gift of God".� (Wikipedia)
It is the story of a young man just stepping out of his teenage years, attracted by older men but unable at first to sort out what this attraction is all about. He has a fixation on a certain Larion Dmitriyevich, aka Stroop, but this man is openly gay and has an affair with a servant, Fyodor, who Vanya is jealous of. This affair causes the suicide of Ida Golberg who was in love with Stroop too.
At the same time Vanya hesitates because he lives on a religious and philosophical, as well as poetical but founded on ancient Greek poetry mainly, vision of love as a totally immaterial dimension whereas the physical nature of the “act� is seen as sinful, dirty, evil, etc., particularly on the side of clerics, Orthodox at times but mainly Catholic, with whom Vanya associates.
He is confronted to what is, in fact, aggressive approaches from women, older women, including what could have become a rape if he had not been forceful in pushing the women away who was already on top of him. He gets advice from his Greek teacher, and many friends, mostly artists, who lead him to the idea that the act itself is not anything worth even speaking or thinking of it since it is nothing but a mechanical response of the body to some attraction, appeal, or even simple hormonal impulse. The act only gets any value of any sort from the motivations, the feelings, the passion that can become its goal or target.
That’s how he finally steps into the shoes that are going to lead him to his love affair with Stroop, a love affair that was planned and announced from the very start but that had to overcome all the obstacles on its road, and there were quite a few, I mean quite many.
A very sensitive and well-balanced story about love that has many forms and all forms of love are admirable, beautiful and to be accepted without any restraint. The real problem is for any person to accept this love, which means giving one’s mind, soul or even being to another person who is supposed to do the same reciprocally. And this gift is often turned into possession of some kind.
This century-old Russian novella is refreshing in our times of unrestrained physical and hormonal promiscuity seen as freedom, a freedom that is being pushed back as male domination by the #MeToo movement against the harassment of women that implies on the side a similar harassment of men, though less openly considered.
Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU
Kuzmin was a Russian poet who died in the 1930s under the Soviet rule he supported. This novella is important in many ways because it is easier to read than poetry, but yet the main theme is that of Kuzmin’s poetry, love in all possible forms.
A good man, “Vanya, Ваня, a unisex diminutive of the Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian and other Slavic given name Ivan. It is the Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian and other Slavic form of John, itself derived from a Hebrew name, meaning "God is gracious" or "Gracious gift of God".� (Wikipedia)
It is the story of a young man just stepping out of his teenage years, attracted by older men but unable at first to sort out what this attraction is all about. He has a fixation on a certain Larion Dmitriyevich, aka Stroop, but this man is openly gay and has an affair with a servant, Fyodor, who Vanya is jealous of. This affair causes the suicide of Ida Golberg who was in love with Stroop too.
At the same time Vanya hesitates because he lives on a religious and philosophical, as well as poetical but founded on ancient Greek poetry mainly, vision of love as a totally immaterial dimension whereas the physical nature of the “act� is seen as sinful, dirty, evil, etc., particularly on the side of clerics, Orthodox at times but mainly Catholic, with whom Vanya associates.
He is confronted to what is, in fact, aggressive approaches from women, older women, including what could have become a rape if he had not been forceful in pushing the women away who was already on top of him. He gets advice from his Greek teacher, and many friends, mostly artists, who lead him to the idea that the act itself is not anything worth even speaking or thinking of it since it is nothing but a mechanical response of the body to some attraction, appeal, or even simple hormonal impulse. The act only gets any value of any sort from the motivations, the feelings, the passion that can become its goal or target.
That’s how he finally steps into the shoes that are going to lead him to his love affair with Stroop, a love affair that was planned and announced from the very start but that had to overcome all the obstacles on its road, and there were quite a few, I mean quite many.
A very sensitive and well-balanced story about love that has many forms and all forms of love are admirable, beautiful and to be accepted without any restraint. The real problem is for any person to accept this love, which means giving one’s mind, soul or even being to another person who is supposed to do the same reciprocally. And this gift is often turned into possession of some kind.
This century-old Russian novella is refreshing in our times of unrestrained physical and hormonal promiscuity seen as freedom, a freedom that is being pushed back as male domination by the #MeToo movement against the harassment of women that implies on the side a similar harassment of men, though less openly considered.
Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU
January 15, 2021
"Alas" es una novela corta que, dividida en fragmentos, narra cómo un joven ruso, Vania, empieza a sentir su despertar sexual al conocer a Strup, un hombre mayor que él, lo cual le lleva a poner en contraste los ideales religiosos ortodoxos con los cuales creció y se crió, con la filosofía hedonista y el surgimiento de movimientos artísticos y políticos que, en la Europa del S.XX, sentaron las bases del pensamiento contemporáneo que redefinieron conceptos clásicos como el amor romántico, el placer y el pecado. Si bien es cierto que la homosexualidad no es el núcleo de la historia, el viaje que atraviesa el protagonista deja una enseñanza y es que: el amor, presentado de cualquier forma, es válido. Sin autores como Kuzmín, Wilde o Lorca, el mundo de la literatura y la poesía LGBTQ+ posiblemente fuera diferente, ellos brindaron una luz en el camino de la representación.
Si tuviera que ponerle una pega a este libro es a nivel de la forma en cómo está escrito. Hay muchas voces que se entremezclan con la del protagonista y a veces se hace difícil interpretar lo que piensa o siente Vania y los personajes secundarios. Además, el lector se puede perder en la cronología del tiempo y no estar seguro cuando algún personaje dice algo. No obstante, las descripciones acerca del ambiente, la estética y las costumbres te enganchan y logras terminar con un final agridulce.
Si tuviera que ponerle una pega a este libro es a nivel de la forma en cómo está escrito. Hay muchas voces que se entremezclan con la del protagonista y a veces se hace difícil interpretar lo que piensa o siente Vania y los personajes secundarios. Además, el lector se puede perder en la cronología del tiempo y no estar seguro cuando algún personaje dice algo. No obstante, las descripciones acerca del ambiente, la estética y las costumbres te enganchan y logras terminar con un final agridulce.
July 25, 2020
"Go away;" "I am going with you."
i wish queer Russian texts from the 19-20th century were easier to procure, but alas; i'll do my best to find a better version than this one that i currently have.
as to the story � it is divinely bettersweet, vivid and infused with love, longing and tenderness all around. this story about an adolescent infatuation with a mentor is, i think, so goos precisely because said adolescent does not grow out of it. i like the hopeless romance of the ending � a subverted Onegin, a Muñoz-like queer future glimpsed in the present. it's. you know. refreshing to see in RusLit.
i wish queer Russian texts from the 19-20th century were easier to procure, but alas; i'll do my best to find a better version than this one that i currently have.
as to the story � it is divinely bettersweet, vivid and infused with love, longing and tenderness all around. this story about an adolescent infatuation with a mentor is, i think, so goos precisely because said adolescent does not grow out of it. i like the hopeless romance of the ending � a subverted Onegin, a Muñoz-like queer future glimpsed in the present. it's. you know. refreshing to see in RusLit.
January 17, 2023
"𝑺𝒐𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒔 𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒔 𝒒𝒖𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒊́𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒔, 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒐𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒔 𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒔 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒔."
February 27, 2024
Esta novela de Mijaín Kuzmin (1872-1936) se considera la primera en tratar un v��nculo homosexual entre varones en la literatura rusa. Si bien uno cuando lee esto piensa encontrarse con una novela en donde efectivamente se pueda visualizar un vínculo serio, yo siento que eso no pasa. Se hablan de miles de cosas y suceden otras tantas en donde el vínculo entre Vania y Shtrup no es lo primordial.
Alas se divide en tres partes y, desde mi parecer, es en la última parte en donde se puede apreciar qué es lo que pasa (o no pasa) entre estos dos varones. En fin, me pareció una novela que, pese a su tamaño, es compleja de leer porque todos los personajes son nombrados con sus respectivos apellidos y, encima, tienen apodos. Entonces, quien era Iván, de repente es Vania o Vánechka. No leí nada de literatura rusa, capaz es algo típico. Otro aspecto: hay diálogos que son larguísimos y que no terminé de entender bien hacia dónde iban...
Alas se divide en tres partes y, desde mi parecer, es en la última parte en donde se puede apreciar qué es lo que pasa (o no pasa) entre estos dos varones. En fin, me pareció una novela que, pese a su tamaño, es compleja de leer porque todos los personajes son nombrados con sus respectivos apellidos y, encima, tienen apodos. Entonces, quien era Iván, de repente es Vania o Vánechka. No leí nada de literatura rusa, capaz es algo típico. Otro aspecto: hay diálogos que son larguísimos y que no terminé de entender bien hacia dónde iban...
June 14, 2024
A pesar de que en ocasiones puede ser un poco complicado comprenderla de manera completa, esta obra ha llamado mi atención desde sus primeras páginas.
Ya a partir de su mismo inicio es impactante la manera en la que el no menos interesante Mijaíl Kuzmín lleva a cabo toda esta novela: una articulación en tres partes tan breves como intensas, una caracterización más bien mínima de los variados contextos y de los múltiples personajes, un continuo empleo de símbolos e imágenes, la figuración de voces de muy diversas procedencias que continuamente se mezclan, abundantes intertextualidades con referentes muy específicos de ámbitos como la pintura, la música, la literatura, la filosofía o la cultura clásica…Ahora bien, aunque muchos de estos elementos exigen al lector de Alas cierto nivel de conocimiento y concentración, también dotan a la obra de una belleza y un encanto muy singulares.
Especialmente, destaca la forma en la que Kuzmín aborda en esta novela, publicada en la Rusia de 1905, el tema de la homosexualidad, que, aunque aparece velado por cierta capa de delicadeza abandonada en muy pocas ocasiones, se presenta en esta novela con una valentía y, sobre todo, una sensibilidad y una hermosura verdaderamente resaltables. En este sentido, es delicioso seguir el tiempo de autodescubrimiento del joven protagonista, Vania, que le profesa al especial Shtrup unos profundos sentimientos que sólo podrán hacerse más y más grandes. En este proceso intervienen riquísimas situaciones -como las conversaciones culturales en el Jardín de Verano de San Petersburgo o la sublimación de la hermosura y la desnudez masculinas en las aguas del Volga-, peculiares personajes -como el “griego� Daniíl Ivánovich-, hermosos referentes -como el recuerdo de figuras como Antinoo o Ganímedes, o la aparición de obras artísticas como la ópera Carmen, de Georges Bizet, o el cuadro El Amor en la Fuente de la Vida, de Giovanni Segantini- y reflexiones que -al relacionarse con ámbitos tan variados y universales como la religiosidad, la orientación homosexual, el paso del tiempo sobre el ser humano o el arte- son tan abundantes como profundas. Un interesante ejemplo de este último aspecto puede estar en esta idea, con la que Vania se topa en distintas partes de la novela: “Es importante la relación que tenemos con cada acto, su objetivo, y también la causa que lo ha engendrado�.
Por todo esto, puedo decir que la lectura de esta novela ha terminado gustándome mucho. Hasta el momento de leerla, nunca había pensado que el amor puede llegar a dar alas: “Un solo esfuerzo más y le crecerán alas. Ya puedo verlas�.
Ya a partir de su mismo inicio es impactante la manera en la que el no menos interesante Mijaíl Kuzmín lleva a cabo toda esta novela: una articulación en tres partes tan breves como intensas, una caracterización más bien mínima de los variados contextos y de los múltiples personajes, un continuo empleo de símbolos e imágenes, la figuración de voces de muy diversas procedencias que continuamente se mezclan, abundantes intertextualidades con referentes muy específicos de ámbitos como la pintura, la música, la literatura, la filosofía o la cultura clásica…Ahora bien, aunque muchos de estos elementos exigen al lector de Alas cierto nivel de conocimiento y concentración, también dotan a la obra de una belleza y un encanto muy singulares.
Especialmente, destaca la forma en la que Kuzmín aborda en esta novela, publicada en la Rusia de 1905, el tema de la homosexualidad, que, aunque aparece velado por cierta capa de delicadeza abandonada en muy pocas ocasiones, se presenta en esta novela con una valentía y, sobre todo, una sensibilidad y una hermosura verdaderamente resaltables. En este sentido, es delicioso seguir el tiempo de autodescubrimiento del joven protagonista, Vania, que le profesa al especial Shtrup unos profundos sentimientos que sólo podrán hacerse más y más grandes. En este proceso intervienen riquísimas situaciones -como las conversaciones culturales en el Jardín de Verano de San Petersburgo o la sublimación de la hermosura y la desnudez masculinas en las aguas del Volga-, peculiares personajes -como el “griego� Daniíl Ivánovich-, hermosos referentes -como el recuerdo de figuras como Antinoo o Ganímedes, o la aparición de obras artísticas como la ópera Carmen, de Georges Bizet, o el cuadro El Amor en la Fuente de la Vida, de Giovanni Segantini- y reflexiones que -al relacionarse con ámbitos tan variados y universales como la religiosidad, la orientación homosexual, el paso del tiempo sobre el ser humano o el arte- son tan abundantes como profundas. Un interesante ejemplo de este último aspecto puede estar en esta idea, con la que Vania se topa en distintas partes de la novela: “Es importante la relación que tenemos con cada acto, su objetivo, y también la causa que lo ha engendrado�.
Por todo esto, puedo decir que la lectura de esta novela ha terminado gustándome mucho. Hasta el momento de leerla, nunca había pensado que el amor puede llegar a dar alas: “Un solo esfuerzo más y le crecerán alas. Ya puedo verlas�.
November 8, 2020
An extra star for its unexpected lightness (a quality praised by Italo Calvino in ). Think of Death in Venice without the lugubrious mystification (or cholera), told from the view of a 20 year old Tadzio toward a much younger Aschenbach. Published in 1906, the story begins in a St Petersburg household redolent of Tolstoy or Chekhov but ends in Italy, of course.
This is maybe the least lurid, least encumbered coming out story I’ve read. Compared to Kuzmin � Huysmans, Gide, Wilde, Mann, Forster et al. are ideological and heavy-handed. Kuzmin has fun with his young protagonist determined to make everything more complicated than it is. Sex is just sex; its value is all in the attitude one brings to it. To a young gay man reading this at the time it must have been a revelation. Another reviewer mentioned that there isn’t much sex or romance here but it still has a certain buzz, familiar to anyone trying to make sense of feelings they barely understand but know are dangerous.
Don’t expect too much. It’s a classic Russian “simple tale� (that’s part of its surprise) and it’s easy to see how its innocence would lend itself to parody by Nabokov � but what wouldn’t?
As always, save the Foreword for afterwards: it gives too much away.
This is maybe the least lurid, least encumbered coming out story I’ve read. Compared to Kuzmin � Huysmans, Gide, Wilde, Mann, Forster et al. are ideological and heavy-handed. Kuzmin has fun with his young protagonist determined to make everything more complicated than it is. Sex is just sex; its value is all in the attitude one brings to it. To a young gay man reading this at the time it must have been a revelation. Another reviewer mentioned that there isn’t much sex or romance here but it still has a certain buzz, familiar to anyone trying to make sense of feelings they barely understand but know are dangerous.
Don’t expect too much. It’s a classic Russian “simple tale� (that’s part of its surprise) and it’s easy to see how its innocence would lend itself to parody by Nabokov � but what wouldn’t?
As always, save the Foreword for afterwards: it gives too much away.
December 11, 2022
*homophobic dog, staring* i know what you are
September 20, 2014
Честно говоря, мне понравилась эта книга, ну мне было трудно всё понимать потому что "Крылья" не просто рассказ, а важна часть искуства которая использует все возможности писания чтобы рассказать о росте Ивана из своего детсва до своего взрослости...
Он сам не знает "кто я" или "кем я стану", но красиво и интересно мне было путешествовать с ним и узнать ответы.
Извините если что нибудь не понятно, я студент русского языка!
Он сам не знает "кто я" или "кем я стану", но красиво и интересно мне было путешествовать с ним и узнать ответы.
Извините если что нибудь не понятно, я студент русского языка!
Want to read
April 14, 2018Pinterestte altta gördüğünüz resimden geldim buralara. ulan çevrilmemiştir bu be dedim amaaaa.
thank god.
homoerotikmiş, diğer kitap kapaklarına bakınca 'erkek' temelli sanıyorum ama aşağıdaki kapakta bi hanım var.
belki her lgbtq'dan vardır.
muazzam bi tasarım ama.
thank god.
homoerotikmiş, diğer kitap kapaklarına bakınca 'erkek' temelli sanıyorum ama aşağıdaki kapakta bi hanım var.
belki her lgbtq'dan vardır.
muazzam bi tasarım ama.
December 7, 2018
Reminiscent of A Room with a View and Carol, Крылья is the moving tale of a Russian youth's journey of self-discovery as he struggles to accept his love for an older man. Its colourful if briefly sketched characters and its episodic style make for an engaging read, each episode a tableau with its own significance and poetic value.
September 3, 2021
Ricordato per essere il primo romanzo a tematica omosessuale della letteratura russa, Vanja è una piccola curiosità forse per certi versi ben più importante che per il suo primato storico. Non solo è un romanzo che tratta una tematica inedita per l'epoca, ma lo fa con una naturalezza ed una spontaneità unica, senza il sensazionalismo, la morbosità e il senso di colpa che molte opere a tema LGBT conservavano fino a tempi recenti. L'iniziazione all'amore del giovane protagonista prosegue in maniera naturale, con delicatezza e con tratti di humour che subliminano ciò che non poteva essere detto davanti alla società borghese dell'epoca (almeno in apparenza).
December 11, 2022
Gay coming of age tale. Impressionistic with heavy doses of aestheticism.
February 16, 2025
"- Ancora uno sforzo e vi cresceranno le ali. Le vedo già spuntare.
- Può darsi, ma fanno male quando crescono � disse Vanja con un sorriso."❤️🩹�
- Può darsi, ma fanno male quando crescono � disse Vanja con un sorriso."❤️🩹�
January 23, 2020
"Cuando os digan «eso es antinatural», tan solo mirad al ciego que os lo ha dicho y pasad de largo para que no os parezcáis a esos gorriones que salen volando asustados por el espantapájaros. La gente va como ciega, como muerta, cuando podrían llevar una vida apasionante en la que todos los placeres fuesen tan intensos como si nada más nacer ya tuviéramos que morir. Con una voracidad exactamente así deberíamos apropiarnos de todo. Los milagros nos rodean a cada paso: ¡es imposible contemplar los músculos y tendones del cuerpo humano sin estremecerse!"
La importancia de tener buenos referentes y maestros vitales que nos desplieguen las alas.
La importancia de tener buenos referentes y maestros vitales que nos desplieguen las alas.
April 27, 2024
"¿Para qué la quieren [la vida]? Les resulta como un schi sin sal: alimenta, pero no es sabrosa."
Primera introducción a la novela rusa, donde los silencios entre las partes dicen más que la propia novela. Novela llena de simbolismo sexual disidente de primera mitad del siglo XX, unos patrones que solo puedo entender en base a que se repiten ciertas tendencias más occidentales.
Estructura e historia sencilla, ideal para ser reivindicada como esa primera novela homosexual de la literatura rusa.
Aún así, agradable de leer.
Primera introducción a la novela rusa, donde los silencios entre las partes dicen más que la propia novela. Novela llena de simbolismo sexual disidente de primera mitad del siglo XX, unos patrones que solo puedo entender en base a que se repiten ciertas tendencias más occidentales.
Estructura e historia sencilla, ideal para ser reivindicada como esa primera novela homosexual de la literatura rusa.
Aún así, agradable de leer.
February 7, 2025
En realidad: 4.5/5
"Alas" es una novela corta, publicada en la Rusia de 1906, que versa sobre el despertar del amor homosexual en un joven. Escrita con una curiosa técnica impresionista y una prosa, la de Mijáil Kuzmín, elegante, bella y luminosa. Una lectura muy enriquecedora.
Mi reseña completa aquí:
"Alas" es una novela corta, publicada en la Rusia de 1906, que versa sobre el despertar del amor homosexual en un joven. Escrita con una curiosa técnica impresionista y una prosa, la de Mijáil Kuzmín, elegante, bella y luminosa. Una lectura muy enriquecedora.
Mi reseña completa aquí:
January 15, 2023
Debo mencionar que si tenía unas buenas expectativas de esta novela, pero sin duda no conecté mucho con ella. Positivamente es una novela elegante y con unas frases muy hermosas, pero si me faltó un poco más desarrollo entre la historia de los personajes principales.
December 9, 2014
Il manifesto dell'omosessualità come condizione connaturata all'artista
Questo vecchio volume delle Edizioni e/o propone il romanzo più famoso di Michail Kuzmin, Vanja, oggi reperibile in un'altra edizione dello stesso autore ed anche come e-book, accompagnato dalla raccolta di poesie Immagini sotto il velo e da un breve saggio di Antonio Veneziani che tratta alcuni aspetti del problema della letteratura omosessuale.
Kuzmin, esponente di spicco del simbolismo russo nel periodo attorno alla rivoluzione sovietica, era infatti omosessuale, e del tema della educazione omosessuale di un giovane agli inizi del secolo (XX) tratta, come dice il sottotitolo, il romanzo che il volume ci presenta.
Prima di addentrarmi nell'analisi del romanzo, mi sembra importante svolgere alcune considerazioni sull'autore e sul contesto sociale e politico in cui agisce, soprattutto sul suo rapporto con la rivoluzione e il potere bolscevico dei primi anni postrivoluzionari.
Dalle note bibliografiche che chiudono il volume, dalla lettura di Vanja, ma anche dalla lettura di un altro breve romanzo dell'autore, Le avventure di Aymé Leboeuf, edito da Sellerio, emerge chiaramente come Kuzmin, da buon simbolista, concepisca l'arte come linguaggio evocativo, in grado di trasmettere livelli di conoscenza che vanno al di là della realtà percepita, e che recupera l'armonia e gli ideali di bellezza classici. Se a questo si aggiunge il suo essere omosessuale ed il suo scrivere di omosessualità sembrerebbe di avere di fronte il perfetto rappresentante dell'artista-esteta, lontano anni luce dai valori fondanti la rivoluzione bolscevica e destinato ad essere fucilato o internato nei giorni immediatamente successivi l'ottobre.
All'opposto, Kuzmin non solo fu un entusiasta sostenitore della rivoluzione, ma fu membro del presidium dell'Unione degli scrittori di Pietrogrado, insieme a Blok, Majakovskij e Punin, e ancora nel 1928 reciterà trionfalmente a Leningrado le sue poesie in pubblico acclamato da una folla di omosessuali che gli lanciavano fiori. Solo con l'involuzione staliniana sarà emarginato, morendo di polmonite nel 1936.
La parabola di questo autore ci dice secondo me molto del fervore culturale che ha accompagnato il grande rivolgimento russo, e ci dice anche molto di come tale rivolgimento fosse basato su presupposti che non implicavano necessariamente l'esito dittatoriale e fallimentare che lo ha contraddistinto, con buona pace dei sostenitori del pensiero unico e della vulgata comunismo=dittatura.
Tornando a Vanja, pubblicato nel 1906, colpisce innanzitutto la sua struttura, che a mio modo di vedere anticipa il linguaggio cinematografico come si svilupperà nel corso del '900, rendendo conto della profonda frequentazione che l'autore aveva con le avanguardie dell'epoca.
Il romanzo è infatti suddiviso in brevi frames, di alcune pagine ognuno, ciascuno dei quali riporta una situazione, un dialogo tra i personaggi o - in un unico caso - un monologo, e ciascuno dei quali è legato a quello che lo precede e a quello che lo segue da una sequenzialità logica ma non dichiarata, tanto che spetta al lettore ricostruire il quadro d'insieme. Kuzmin distilla per noi i momenti salienti della vicenda, lasciandoci la facoltà di legarli tra di loro attraverso il nostro giudizio e immaginando le parti mancanti. Ciò rende la lettura molto piacevole e incalzante in un racconto in cui l'azione è molto rarefatta.
Vanja è un adolescente che, dopo la morte della madre, va a vivere a Pietrogrado dagli zii per continuare gli studi ginnasiali. Qui fa la conoscenza con un amico di famiglia, Larion Dmitrievič Štrup, raffinato intellettuale omosessuale, che gli apre la conoscenza della cultura classica, che propugna l'universalità delle leggi della natura, che non hanno, come l'amore, alcun fine predeterminato, dove non esistono bene e male, dove esiste un'antica patria, di sole e di libertà, popolata da uomini bellissimi e arditi; ed è là, attraverso i mari, le nebbie e le tenebre che noi andiamo, o argonauti! (Quanto Whitman, se così posso dire, in questo passo tratto dal monologo di cui parlavo prima, vero manifesto dell'omosessualità come unica condizione esistenziale che permette di comprendere la bellezza e l'arte e come unica possibilità di liberazione dell'uomo dalle costrizioni della cultura cristiana).
Vanja ha così la sua iniziazione culturale, anche grazie ad un'altra figura centrale nel romanzo, quella dell'insegnante di greco Daniil Ivanovič, amico di Štrup (forse suo amante) e come lui innamorato dell'arte classica, che nella terza parte del romanzo condurrà con sé Vanja in un viaggio in Italia, intesa come luogo dove la bellezza classica può essere toccata con mano. E' lui che dice a Vanja per primo che non sono gli atti in sé, ma l'atteggiamento che abbiamo verso di loro che possono essere morali o immorali.
Parallela all'iniziazione culturale di Vanja c'è la sua iniziazione sessuale: per quanto detto essa non è solo parallela, ma consequenziale all'altra: per Kuzmin infatti questi due percorsi sono le due facce di una stessa medaglia e l'uno non può esistere senza l'altro. E' l'arte, la scoperta della vera bellezza e delle leggi della natura che portano, secondo Kuzmin, all'omosessualità come forma necessaria dell'eros.
Vanja quindi scopre lentamente la sua attrazione anche fisica verso Štrup, si ritrova ad essere geloso del suo rapporto di con un altro ragazzo, e ad un certo punto rifiuta le avances di una signora con uno sdegnoso Ma lasciami stare, femmina disgustosa. Da quel momento, Vanja si rende conto della sua 徱à e si prepara ad accoglierla. Kuzmin comunque sa che l'omosessualità non è un fardello semplice da portare nella società, e Vanja, sia pure con un sorriso, accennerà al dolore che può comportare la sua consapevolezza.
Non manca nella vicenda un risvolto drammatico, quello del suicidio di una giovane che, innamorata di Štrup, non può accettare il suo rifiuto e la sua patente omosessualità. Questo episodio, assieme al citato tentativo di seduzione di Vanja e a come vengono presentate le altre figure femminili, mi porta a dire che la donna è concepita da Kuzmin come un essere inferiore rispetto all'ideale di bellezza maschile dell'autore, che ci dice, nel monologo già citato: coloro che collegano il concetto di bellezza alla bellezza della donna manifestano solo una volgare lascivia e sono lontani mille miglia dalla vera idea di bellezza. Molte altre volte l'amore per la donna è associato alla volgarità, alle convenzioni sociali e alla pura lascivia. Indubbiamente è una posizione discutibile, apertamente misogina, ma pienamente coerente con l'assunto centrale del romanzo.
Da notare che nel testo non vi sono scene erotiche (a parte il goffo tentativo di seduzione del protagonista) e neppure la parola omosessualità è mai nominata, a testimonianza del valore culturale e intellettuale che Kuzmin attribuisce all'omosessualità.
In definitiva quindi, credo che Vanja si possa definire un romanzo-manifesto, nel quale la vicenda del protagonista serve all'autore per illustrare la sua concezione dell'arte, e di quella classica in particolare, come manifestazione della vitalità dell'uomo, che può divenire compiuta solo attraverso l'attrazione reciproca di uomini (maschi) eletti, che si sono lasciati alle spalle, tramite l'approfondimento culturale, tutte le convenzioni e le costrizioni della morale cristiana. Una visione che, anche se indubbiamente elitaria, estetizzante e quasi aristocratica, non impedì a Kuzmin, come detto, di aderire alla rivoluzione, nella quale probabilmente vedeva il presupposto perché tale visione potesse estendersi a ciascun individuo.
Il libro propone anche alcune poesie scopertamente erotiche di Kuzmin (illustrate da un suo compagno), alcune delle quali sono veramente divertenti (su tutte Le riflessioni di Luca) e ci svelano come l'autore vivesse la sua omosessualità con gioia, o perlomeno con una buona dose di ironia. Il breve saggio di Antonio Veneziani nulla aggiunge a mio avviso al libro, se non la rivendicazione della necessità della corporeità della letteratura omosessuale, che peraltro Kuzmin in Vanja sublima in maniera sublime.
May 13, 2021
Vania (Ivan) es nuestro protagonista, lo encontramos un poco perdido entre lo rural y la transición al mundo urbano, entre contar con un buen apellido y, al mismo tiempo, pertenecer a la decadente nobleza que vive de puros préstamos en un régimen que empieza a hacer aguas por todos lados. Pero el autor no se detiene en estos problemas sociales y económicos de la Rusia de los zares, en cambio, nos ofrece una serie de escenas en Rusia e Italia donde Vania conoce tutores que le ayudan a encauzar sus inquietudes e intuiciones.
Si bien uno espera un relato erótico (shame on me), Vania provoca reflexiones sobre el pecado, la belleza y lo que nos es natural como seres humanos libres. Algo que me recordó un poco a esos primeros años de exploración sexual, fue la búsqueda de justificaciones por sentirte fuera de la norma. No sé si esta sensación aún sea tema para la nuevas generaciones con una sociedad menos agresiva hacia la diversidad sexual, pero a mi todavía me tocó retrasar esa revelación a mis seres queridos hasta el mayor extremo posible.
Las conversaciones con sus tutores y las dudas con las que me identifiqué, además de la indudable belleza con la que está escrito, me llevaron a darle a Alas 5⭐️ y un lugar en mi corazón del año 2021.
Si bien uno espera un relato erótico (shame on me), Vania provoca reflexiones sobre el pecado, la belleza y lo que nos es natural como seres humanos libres. Algo que me recordó un poco a esos primeros años de exploración sexual, fue la búsqueda de justificaciones por sentirte fuera de la norma. No sé si esta sensación aún sea tema para la nuevas generaciones con una sociedad menos agresiva hacia la diversidad sexual, pero a mi todavía me tocó retrasar esa revelación a mis seres queridos hasta el mayor extremo posible.
Las conversaciones con sus tutores y las dudas con las que me identifiqué, además de la indudable belleza con la que está escrito, me llevaron a darle a Alas 5⭐️ y un lugar en mi corazón del año 2021.
Want to read
June 25, 2024I read this book not long after this English edition appeared in 2007 and in 2022 I bought my own copy. I can't review the book without rereading it because it is to richly nuanced a novel to be read within the cultural context of the UK never ming France or Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. It needs to be read and understood within the context of the time and place of its creation. I hope eventually to have something thoughtful to say.
February 20, 2022
Por un lado me ha parecido un call me by your name ruso, por otro aunque es corto suuuper denso de leer así que no sé que pensar :(
January 8, 2024
Always happy to read something queer so I was excited! But honestly I found it so hard to follow who was speaking and what was happening. Maybe the way things were formatted on my Kindle made it more difficult to read, but the jumping between scenes and between different conversations was so distracting so that I don’t think I really understood what Kuzmin was trying to communicate at various points.
Still glad I read it, and maybe one day I’ll come back to this and look at some passages a bit more closely.
Still glad I read it, and maybe one day I’ll come back to this and look at some passages a bit more closely.
May 1, 2024
Tenía muchas expectativas, pero la forma de contar la historia me ha tenido súper desconectada
October 9, 2024
Sei lá, esperava (bem) mais dele. Acho que o hype foi um pouco desproporcional. Um coming out meio estranho, com lirismos e beleza pra dar uma camuflada.
November 24, 2018
Wings, a short novella in three parts, works like an unfinished impressionist painting where seemingly random and only loosely related elements, hasty sketches in quick brush-strokes, emerge in-between vast swaths of uncovered canvas.
The effect is disconcerting and disorientating for the reader and it is only once the book is read and the reader can finally step away from the material presented to them that an image of sorts finally comes into trembling and hazy focus.
The book, published in 1906, was pioneering in its time; not only for its structure, but, more importantly, for the exploration of homosexuality central to its pages. Indeed, the critics weren't kind on either account.
From a modern perspective, however, this paean to Greek love, with its attending themes of the pedagogic values of male relationships, the superiority of romantic love over carnal intercourse, and its rampant misogyny, is all very tame, understated and, frankly, rather unoriginal.
Like what little there is of the narrative, the style of writing is sparse and minimal. The cast of characters isn't! The reader is given few indications of the circumstances of what is presented to them or of the inner thoughts of the protagonists. Oddly, what we would consider the main characters of the story (though one of them remains firmly in the background) barely ever interact at all. On the whole, none of this makes for a pleasant reading experience.
This is, I think, one to file under "historical curiosity".
The effect is disconcerting and disorientating for the reader and it is only once the book is read and the reader can finally step away from the material presented to them that an image of sorts finally comes into trembling and hazy focus.
The book, published in 1906, was pioneering in its time; not only for its structure, but, more importantly, for the exploration of homosexuality central to its pages. Indeed, the critics weren't kind on either account.
From a modern perspective, however, this paean to Greek love, with its attending themes of the pedagogic values of male relationships, the superiority of romantic love over carnal intercourse, and its rampant misogyny, is all very tame, understated and, frankly, rather unoriginal.
Like what little there is of the narrative, the style of writing is sparse and minimal. The cast of characters isn't! The reader is given few indications of the circumstances of what is presented to them or of the inner thoughts of the protagonists. Oddly, what we would consider the main characters of the story (though one of them remains firmly in the background) barely ever interact at all. On the whole, none of this makes for a pleasant reading experience.
This is, I think, one to file under "historical curiosity".
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