Cynics
Russia

Cynics

by Anatoly Marienhof

Society & Class Classics 1973

Summary

Set in Moscow during the turbulent years following the Russian Revolution, Cynics is a darkly comic portrait of love, survival, and moral compromise under Bolshevik rule. At its center is Vladimir, an idealistic intellectual hopelessly in love with Olga, a woman whose priorities are shaped increasingly by the struggle to obtain food, warmth, and security. When Olga becomes interested in serving the revolution, Vladimir introduces her to his brother Sergei, a Bolshevik official. Their relationships develop into a painful love triangle in which personal desires collide with political ambition and material necessity.

Written in a sharp, fragmented style, Marienhof’s novel juxtaposes intimate emotions with the absurdities and brutality of everyday life during War Communism and the New Economic Policy. Its characters navigate a society where ideological convictions often conceal self-interest, and basic necessities can outweigh romantic ideals. Through biting satire, grotesque humor, and cinematic scenes, Marienhof exposes the contradictions of revolutionary life without romanticizing either the old order or the new regime. Initially published in Berlin because Soviet censorship prevented its domestic publication, Cynics remains a striking exploration of how political upheaval reshapes private morality and human relationships.

Reviews

Login to leave a review.

No reviews yet. Be the first!

You might also like

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
John le Carré
The Spy and the Traitor
The Spy and the Traitor
Ben Macintyre
My Dreadful Body
My Dreadful Body
Egana Djabbarova
Birds, Beasts and a World Made New
Birds, Beasts and a World Made New
Velimir Khlebnikov
Country
Russia
Europe
About the author
Anatoly Marienhof
Anatoly Marienhof

Anatoly Borisovich Marienhof (1897–1962) was a Russian poet, novelist, playwright, and memoirist, best known as one of the leading figures of Russian Imaginism, an avant-garde literary movement that emphasized striking imagery and unconventional poetic expression. Born in Nizhny Novgorod, he later moved to Moscow, where he became part of the city’s experimental literary circles following the Russian Revolution. Marienhof was a close friend of the celebrated poet Sergei Yesenin. Together with Yesenin and other writers, he helped shape Imaginism in the late 1910s and early 1920s. Their friendship later became the subject of Marienhof’s controversial memoir A Novel Without Lies (1926), which presented a candid and unconventional portrait of Yesenin. His best-known novel, Cynics (1928), offered a satirical and formally innovative portrayal of Russian society during the revolutionary period. Soviet censorship prevented its publication in the USSR until 1988, and Marienhof’s literary career subsequently became increasingly restricted. He spent much of his later life writing for the theatre and radio, while his memoirs appeared largely after his death. Today, he is recognized for his experimental style and his unsparing depiction of the contradictions of early Soviet life.

View author page
Details
Published
1973
Author
Anatoly Marienhof