The Petty DemonThe Petty Demon is one of the funniest Russian novels. It is also the most decadent of the great Russian classics, replete with naked boys, sinuous girls, and a strange mixture of beauty and perversity. The main hero, Peredonov, is as comical as he is disgusting. He is at once a victim, a monster, a silly hypocrite, and a sadistic dullard. The plot moves from Peredonov’s petty quest for a promotion to arson and murder via one of the most incredible and uproarious scandal scenes in world literature, the masquerade ball, which the boy Sasha attends as a beautiful geisha. Even in its censored form, it is one of the most provocative and sexually open of Russian books. Sologub removed many passages which would have been unacceptable at the time of publication. In this edition these censored sections are appended, and all are keyed so that the reader can place them in the novel as it was written. |
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Antosha Ardalyon Borisych Avinovitsky Bacchae beauty blushed cards cheerful costume cried Darya Demiurge didn’t Dionysiac Dionysus door dreams dressed Ershova everything exclaimed eyes face Fedor Sologub feeling frightened gave geisha girl grotesque Grushina Gudaevsky guests gymnasium hand he’s headmaster husband inspector Khripach kind kiss Klavdiya Kokovkina lady laughed laughter letter literary living look Lyudmila marry Marta masquerade melancholy Misha Murin Nadezhda Vasilyevna nedotykomka novel Pavlushka Pentheus Peredonov asked Peredonov replied Peredonov said angrily Peredonov thought perfume Petty Demon play poshlost Prepolovenskaya Princess Pylnikov quickly rusalka Russian Russian Symbolism Rutilov Sasha seemed Sergei Turgenev Sharik shouted sisters sitting Skuchaev smile smirk Sologub someone started stood suddenly Symbolism Symbolist talk tell There’s things took town Turgenev turned Valeriya Varvara Varvara Dmitrievna Veriga Vershina Vladya vodka voice Volodin vulgar What’s whip whispered window won’t words wouldn’t writers you’re young