Konstantin Vaginov's The Tower -- Free Ebook

[Benjamin Sher]

Dear friends:

"For some time now, Petersburg has been awash in a
greenish hue, a gleaming, blinking, phosphorescent,
horrifying color. A greenish light, venomous and sniggering,
trembles on houses, faces, souls. The light blinks--and you
are facing a clammy reptile instead of Pyotr Petrovich..."

As the publisher and translator of Vaginov's The Tower
[original title: Kozlinaia Pesn' or The Goat-Song -- St.
Petersburg, 1928], I am proud to offer to the reading public
a FREE e-book version  of this classic of Russian
modernism. This is the first translation of The Tower or,
indeed, of any of Vaginov's works to be published in
English.

Konstantin Vaginov was considered a unique figure in world
literature by no less an authority than Mikhail Bakthin (see
"Conversations with Bakhtin" in the Russian journal
Chelovek, 1994/4). Professor Victor Terras considers the
Tower "a worthy companion piece to Pasternak's Doctor
Zhivago and Bulgakov's Master and Margarita."

I consider it a great honor to have introduced Vaginov to the
English-speaking world. He has already been restored in his
homeland to his rightful place in the pantheon of Russian
literature. I hope that our publication of The Tower, his chef
d'oeuvre, establishes his reputation as a master of Russian
prose in the English-speaking world.

Vaginov's The Tower was first published by us in 1997 as
both a hardback and a free online edition. We ceased
offering the hardback or indeed any commercial version of
the translation about 18 months ago. It is now available in
two formats, both free: online and as a downloadable e-
book.

Both versions are available at:

http://www.websher.net/spub/index.html


Sincerely yours,
Benjamin Sher

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