Apollon Apollonovich, for example, is forever cracking jokes, most of which are based on terrible puns that barely work in Russian and obviously do not work in English. Bely plays language games, nearly all of which are in Russian. It requires a good knowledge of the geography of St. Bely’s work is, perhaps, even more difficult, at least for someone who does not speak Russian. They find the plot and language difficult to grasp and do not see the point. There are still many commentators who find the work unreadable and are surprised at its generally positive reputation. The fact that Bely’s novel was not translated into English till 1959 meant that he never received the reputation he deserved as Joyce was, of course, already fully established when the translation appeared. (Note that some commentators state that the action takes place in Petersburg within a span of 24 or 48 hours but in the 1913 version (though not the later versions) near the end, Apollon Apollonovich clearly states that it is ten days since he first saw Dudkin.) Both use humour. Joyce’s novel takes place on 16 June 1904 while Bely’s starts on 30 September 1905 and ends around ten days later. Thirdly, both are long novels yet take place in a limited time-span. novels where the city is one of, if not the, main characters. Firstly, of course, they are both city novels, i.e. Home » Russia » Andrei Bely » Петербург (Petersburg) Andrei Bely: Петербург (Petersburg)īely’s novel has often been compared to Ulysses and there is a certain amount of justification for this.

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