Küchlya
(1925), the first novel of the great Russian formalist Yury Tynyanov gives
us a vividly written and moving recreation of the childhood, youth, beliefs and
adventures of an eccentric and idealistic young poet and friend of Pushkin,
tragically caught up in the Decembrist insurrection of 1825 against the Russian
autocracy.

Table of Contents

Introduction
The Characters

Küchlya: Decembrist Poet: A Novel

Willie

The Bechelkückeriad

Europe

Caucasus

In the Country

Sons of the Fatherland

December

Peter¿s Square

Escape

Fortress

The End

Some Poems by Wilhelm Küchelbecker
Endnotes

Yuri Tynianov (1894-1943) was a Russian writer and literary theorist, and a central figure among the revolutionary-era scholars who came to be known as the Russian Formalists.

Anna Kurkina Rush taught Russian at George Watson¿s College (Edinburgh) and the University of St Andrews of which she holds a doctorate. Together with Christopher Rush she translated Tynyanov¿s novel Pushkin (2007) and The Death of Vazir-Mukhtar (Columbia UP, 2021). She is currently working on a monograph about representation of Pushkin in Tynyanov¿s historical novels.

Peter France, who lives in Edinburgh, is the author and editor of many books on Russian, French and comparative literature, including Poets of Modern Russia (1982) and the Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation (2000). He has translated numerous volumes of Russian poetry, from Baratynsky and Batyushkov to Mandelstam and Aygi.

Christopher Rush is the author of 25 critically acclaimed books in various genres: poetry, prose fiction, biography, besides his work as editor, memoirist, screenplay writer and writer of academic and literary essays.