Viktor Shklovsky's A Sentimental Journey, which borrows its title from Laurence Sterne, describes the travels of a bewildered intellectual through Russia, Persia, the Ukraine, and the Caucasus during the period of the Russian Revolution. Valuable as a...
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Viktor Shklovsky's A Sentimental Journey, which borrows its title from Laurence Sterne, describes the travels of a bewildered intellectual through Russia, Persia, the Ukraine, and the Caucasus during the period of the Russian Revolution. Valuable as a historical document for its first-hand account of the events during the period of 1917-1922, A Sentimental Journey is also an important experimental literary work—a memoir in the form of a novel.
At times lyrical, disturbing, ironic, and erudite, A Sentimental Journey is a singular book from one of the most recognizable and influential voices of twentieth-century Russian literature.
Biographical Note
Viktor Shklovsky (1893-1984) was a leading figure in the Russian Formalist movement of the 1920s and had a profound effect on twentieth-century Russian literature. Several of his books have been translated into English and are available from Dalkey Archive Press, including On the Theory of Prose, Third Factory, Zoo, or Letters Not about Love, Energy of Delusion, Literature and Cinematography, and Bowstring.
Richard Sheldon (1932-2014), an authority on Russian formalism and formalist critic Viktor Shklovsky, also translated Zoo, or Letters Not about Love, Third Factory, and Knight’s Move. He graduated from the University of Kansas, received his JD and PhD degrees from the University of Michigan, and taught Russian language and literature for many years at Dartmouth College.