The Petty Demon by Fyodor Sologub Read Free Book Online

slovarya
(izd. vtorym otdeleniem Imperatorskoy Akademii nauk). Sanktpeterburg, 1852, p. 126.
    18 . See the Preface by Andrew Field to Fyodor Sologub,
The Petty Demon
, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1970.
    19 . See W.H.E. Johnson,
Russia’s Educational Heritage
. Pittsburgh, 1950.
    20 . For a more complete discussion of the works of Fyodor Sologub please see: Murl Barker,
The Novels of Fyodor Sologub
. Knoxville, 1977; Stanley Rabinowitz,
Sologub’s Literary Children
. Columbus, Ohio. 1980.
    21 . Quoted by M.I. Dikman, p. 42.

A UTHOR ’ S F OREWORD TO
THE S ECOND E DITION
    T HE NOVEL
The Petty Demon
was begun in 1892 and completed in 1902. It was printed for the first time in the journal
Questions of Life
in 1905 (Nos. 6–11), but without the concluding chapters. The novel appeared for the fist time in a complete version in an
     edition by
Shipovnik
In March of 19107.
    In the printed reviews, as well as the oral ones which I was obliged to listen to, I noticed two contrary opinions.
    Some think that the author, being a very bad fellow, wished to present his own portrait and depicted himself in the model
     of the teacher Peredonov. Due to his sincerity, the author didn’t wish to justify and embellish himself in any way, and for
     that reason smeared his visage with the blackest of colors. He embarked upon this amazing enterprise in order to deliver himself
     up to a kind of Calvary and to suffer for something or other. The result was an interesting and harmless novel.
    Interesting because the novel makes apparent what manner of bad people there are in the world. Harmless because the reader
     can say: “I’m not the one he’s writing about.”
    Others, who have a less harsh opinion of the author, think that the Peredonovism described in the novel is a rather widespread
     phenomenon.
    Several people even think that by peering closely into ourselves, each of us will find the unmistakable characteristics of
     Peredonov inside.
    Of these two opinions I give preference to the one which pleases me more, namely the second. I was not obliged to contrive
     and invent on my own. Everything that relates to the narrative incidents, the everyday life and the psychology in my novel
     is based on very precise observations, and I had sufficient “models” for my novel in my proximity. And if the work on the
     novel was so drawn out, then it was simply so that stern Ananke could be enthroned where once reigned Aisa, the disseminator
     of anecdotes.
    True, people love to be loved. They like to have the lofty and noble aspects of their souls depicted. Even in malefactors
     they like to see glimmerings of goodness, of the “divine spark,” as it was expressed in oldentimes. Therefore they cannot believe it when they are faced with a depiction that is faithful, precise, gloomy and wicked.
     They want to say:
    “He’s writing about himself.”
    No, my dear contemporaries, it is about you that I have written my novel about the Petty Demon and its sinister
Nedotykomka
, about Ardalyon and Varvara Peredonov, Pavel Volodin, Darya, Lyudmila and Valeriya Rutilova, Aleksandr Pylnikov and the others.
     About you.
    This novel is a mirror, skillfully fashioned. I polished it for a long while and worked zealously over it.
    Smooth is the surface of my mirror and pure its composition. Measured repeatedly and tested painstakingly, it possesses no
     distortion.
    The deformed and the beautiful are reflected in it with equal precision.
    January 1908

A UTHOR ’ S F OREWORD TO
THE F IFTH E DITION
    A T ONE TIME it seemed to me that Peredonov’s career was finished and that he would no longer emerge from the psychiatric hospital where
     he was placed after he cut Volodin’s throat. But lately rumors have started to reach me concerning the fact that Peredonov’s
     mental derangement had proved to be temporary and had not prevented him from finding himself at liberty after a certain time.
     Rumors, of course, that have little likelihood. I