Victor Serge
Victor Serge (French: [viktɔʁ sɛʁʒ]; December 30, 1890 – November 17, 1947), born Victor Lvovich Kibalchich (Russian: Ви́ктор Льво́вич Киба́льчич), was a Russian revolutionary Marxist, novelist, poet and historian. Originally an anarchist, he joined the Bolsheviks five months after arriving in Petrograd in January 1919 and later worked for the Comintern as a journalist, editor and translator. He was critical of the Stalinist regime and remained a revolutionary Marxist until his death. He is best remembered for his Memoirs of a Revolutionary and series of seven "witness-novels" chronicling the lives of Soviet people and revolutionaries and of the first half of the 20th century.
Victor Serge | |
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| Born | December 30, 1890 Brussels, Belgium |
| Died | November 17, 1947 (aged 56) Mexico City, Mexico |
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| Spouse | Liuba Russakova |
| Partner | Laurette Séjourné |
| Children | 2, including Vlady |
Works available in English
Fiction
- The Long Dusk or Last Times (1946) Translator: Ralph Manheim; New York : The Dial Press. Translation of Les dernier temps, Montreal 1946.
- The Case of Comrade Tulayev (1967) Translator: Willard R. Trask; New York : New York Review of Books Classics. Translation of L'Affaire Toulaev. Paris 1949.
- Birth of our Power (1967) Translator: Richard Greeman; New York : Doubleday. Translation of Naissance de notre force, Paris 1931.
- Men in Prison (1969) Translator: Richard Greeman; Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Translation of Les hommes dans le prison, Paris 1930.
- Conquered City (1975) Translator: Richard Greeman; Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Translation of: Ville conquise, Paris 1932.
- Midnight in the Century (1982) Translator: Richard Greeman; London : Readers and Writers. Translation of S'il est minuit dans le siècle, Paris 1939.
- Unforgiving Years (2008) Translator: Richard Greeman; New York : New York Review of Books Classics. Translation of Les Années sans pardon, Paris 1971.
Poems
- Resistance (1989) Translator: James Brooks; San Francisco: City Lights. Translation of Résistance, Paris 1938.
Non-fiction: books
- From Lenin to Stalin (1937) Translator: Ralph Manheim; New York: Pioneer Publishers. Translation of De Lénine à Staline, Paris 1937.
- Russia Twenty Years After (1937) Translator: Max Shachtman; New York: Pioneer Publishers. Translation of Destin d'une révolution, Paris 1937. Also published as Destiny of a Revolution.
- Memoirs of a Revolutionary, 1901–1941 (2012) Translator: Peter Sedgwick with George Paizis; New York: New York Review of Books Classics. Translation of Mémoires d'un révolutionnaire, 1901–1941, Paris 1951.
- Year One of the Russian Revolution (1972) Translator: Peter Sedgwick; London: Allen Lane. Translation of L'An 1 de la révolution russe, Paris 1930.
- The Life and Death of Leon Trotsky (1973) (with Natalia Sedova Trotsky) Translator: Arnold J. Pomerans; Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Translation of: Vie et mort de Leon Trotsky, Paris 1951.
- What Everyone Should Know About State Repression (1979) Translator: Judith White; London: New Park Publications. Translation of Les Coulisses d'une Sûreté générale. Ce que tout révolutionnaire devrait savoir sur la répression, Paris 1926.
- Notebooks 1936-1947 (2019) Translators: Mitchell Abidor and Richard Greeman; New York: New York Review of Books.
Non-fiction: collections of essays and articles
- The Century of the Unexpected – Essays on Revolution and Counter-Revolution (1994) Editor: Al Richardson; special issue of Revolutionary History, Vol.5 No.3.
- The Serge-Trotsky Papers (1994) Editor: D.J. Cotterill; London: Pluto.
- Revolution in Danger – Writings from Russia 1919–1921 (1997) Translator: Ian Birchall; London: Redwords.
- The Ideas of Victor Serge: A Life as a Work of Art (1997), Edited by Susan Weissman, London: Merlin Press.
- Witness to the German Revolution (2000) Translator: Ian Birchall; London: Redwords.
- Collected Writings on Literature and Revolution (2004) Translator and editor: Al Richardson; London: Francis Boutle.
Non-fiction: pamphlet
- Kronstadt '21 (1975) Translator: not named; London: Solidarity.
Sources: British Library Catalogue and Catalog of the Library of Congress.
See also
- Anarchism in France
- Anti-Stalinist left
- Transatlantic (portrayal in 2023 TV series)
Sources
- Weissman, Susan (2001). Victor Serge: The Course is Set on Hope. London: Verso Books.
- Adam Hochschild Finding the Trapdoor: Essays, Portraits, Travels (Syracuse University Press, 1997), "Two Russians," pp. 65–87.
Further reading
- Fitzpatrick, Sheila (August 17, 2012). "Memoirs of a Revolutionary by Victor Serge – review". The Guardian.
- Gorkin, Julián (1994). "The Last Years of Victor Serge, 1941–1947". Revolutionary History. 5 (3).
- Greeman, Richard (1993). "The return of Comrade Tulayev: Victor Serge and the tragic vision of Stalinism". International Socialism (58).
- Sedgwick, Peter (1978) [1963]. "Introduction". In Serge, Victor (ed.). Memoirs of a Revolutionary. Oxford University Press. pp. ix–xxiv. ISBN 0-19-281037-5.
- Sedgwick, Peter (1984). "The Unhappy Elitist: Victor Serge's Early Bolshevism". History Workshop Journal. 17 (17): 150–156. doi:10.1093/hwj/17.1.150.
- Weissman, Susan (ed.). "Introduction". Critique. 28/29. Archived from the original on February 12, 2005. Retrieved March 14, 2007.
- Weissman, Susan (2013). Victor Serge. A Political Biography (2nd ed.). London: Verso Books. ISBN 9781844678877.
External links
Wikiquote has quotations related to Victor Serge.
- Victor Serge Internet Archive in the Marxists Internet Archive
- Bulletin of the Russian Opposition: "Victor Serge and the IVth International". Statement criticising Serge by the editors of the Bulletin of the Russian Opposition, writing in Quatrième Internationale, April 1939. Source: Victor Serge & Leon Trotsky, La Lutte Contre le Stalinisme. Maspero, Paris, 1977. Translated for Marxist Internet Archive by Mitch Abidor in 2005. Retrieved April 28, 2005.
- Victor Serge Papers. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
- An essay on Serge by Ben Lerner in The New York Review of Books
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