French Literature Reviews - 2026
V. Petrov, La jeune Vera. Une Manon Lescaut russe
Comparative and World Literature
La jeune Vera. Une Manon Lescaut russe
Vsevolod PETROV
Translated from Russian by Véronique Patte
Afterword by Luba Jurgenson
Gallimard, 2019
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152 pages
15 EUR
ISBN : 9782072763731
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DESCRIPTION:
Aboard a military train crossing the snowy Soviet countryside to pick up the wounded, a young Red Army officer falls in love with a nurse, the charming Vera. From then on, passion disrupts the daily rhythm of his existence in this game of love dictated by the shifting moods and fickleness of his beloved.
Set against the backdrop of World War II, this striking railway chamber drama playfully rewrites Manon Lescaut, offering us both a brilliant story of romantic disillusionment and a subtle reflection on what Stendhal called "crystallization."
The novella belongs to a rich tradition of Russian prose that engages with classical literature and the psychological traditions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Set against the backdrop of World War II, the narrative examines how personal passion manifests under conditions of hardship, exploring themes of fickleness, emotional dependency, and romantic attachment.
Readers interested in twentieth-century Russian literature and adaptations of classical motifs may find this text relevant. The publication by Gallimard features an afterword by Luba Jurgenson, and the text itself takes the form of a brief, focused wartime chamber drama.