The White Guard

This article is about the novel. For other uses, seeThe White Guard (disambiguation).

The White Guard

1927émigréedition published in Riga
Author	Mikhail Bulgakov
Original title	Белая гвардия
Language	Russian
Publisher	Rossiya(serial)
Publication date	1925
Publication place	Soviet Union
Published in English	1971
Media type	Print

The White Guard(‹See Tfd›Russian:Белая гвардия) is a novel byMikhail Bulgakov,first published in 1925 in literary journalRossiya.It was not reprinted in the Soviet Union until 1966.

Background

The White Guardfirst appeared in serial form in theSoviet-era literary journalRossiyain 1925,but it was closed down before the serial was completed. The complete book was published inParisin 1927. The censored version was published in the Soviet Union in 1966. The complete version was published in 1989.

After the first two parts ofThe White Guardhad been published inRossiya,Bulgakov was invited to write a version for the stage. He called theplayThe Days of the Turbins.It was produced at theMoscow Art Theatre,to great acclaim. According to some sources,Stalinsaw it no fewer than 20 times.

In fact, the play completely overshadowed the book, which was in any event virtually unobtainable in any form.

Plot

Set inUkrainefrom late 1918, the novel concerns the fate of the Turbin family as the various armies of theUkrainian War of Independence(theWhite Army,theRed Army,theImperial German ArmyandUkrainian nationalists) fight over the city of Kiev. Historical figures such asPyotr Wrangel,Symon Petliuraand HetmanPavlo Skoropadskyappear as the Turbin family is caught up in the turbulent effects of theOctober Revolution.

The novel's characters belong to the sphere of Ukrainian andRussianintellectuals and officers in the army of Skoropadsky and participate in defending the city from the Ukrainian nationalist forces, led by Petliura, in December 1918. The character Mikhail Shpolyansky is modelled onViktor Shklovsky.

The novel contains manyautobiographicalelements. Bulgakov gave the younger Turbin brother some of the characteristics of his own younger brother. The description of the house of the Turbins is that of the house of the Bulgakov family in Kyiv. (It is now preserved and operated as theMikhail Bulgakov Museum.)

Characters

• Alexey Vasilyevich Turbin,a physician
• Nikolai Turbin(Nikolka), his younger brother
• Elena Vasilyevna Talberg,their sister
• Sergei Ivanovich Talberg,her husband
• Viktor Viktorovich Myshlaevsky,lieutenant
• Leonid Yuryevich Shervinsky,aide to Prince Belorukov
• Fyodor Nikolaievich Stepanov,nicknamedCarp(Karas)
• Father Alexander
• Vasily Ivanovich Lisovich,nicknamedVasilisa
• Larion Larionovich Surzhansky(Lariosik)
• Colonel Nai-Turs

English translations

Bulgakov's widow hadThe White Guardpublished in large part in the literary journalMoskvain 1966, at the end of theKhrushchevera. It was the basis for the English translation byMichael Glenny,first published in 1971, which lacks the dream flashback sections. In 2008,Yale University Presspublished a translation by Marian Schwartz of the complete novel, an edition that won an award.

• The White Guard,translated byMichael Glenny,London: Collins and Harvill Press, 1971.ISBN0002619059.
  • London: Harvill, 1996. Revised edition.ISBN1860462189.
• White Guard,translated by Marian Schwartz, introduction byEvgeny Dobrenko.New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.ISBN978-0-300-15145-9
• The White Guard,translated by Roger Cockrell. Richmond: Alma Classics, 2012.ISBN978-1-84749-245-6.

Adaptations

• The Days of the Turbins,a 1925 stage adaptation written by Bulgakov.
• The Days of the Turbins (film),a 1976 3-part television adaptation of the play.
• The White Guard (TV series),a 2012 mini-series adaptation of the book.

External links

• The White Guard(full text in Russian),RU:Lib.
• The White Guard(in Russian and English), Get parallel translations.