victorserge.net

"It was Serge's ambition to break the mould of the traditional novel in order to go beyond the limits of the individual self and reach out to that 'vast life that flows through us'. He was thus led to abandon the singular 'I' for the collective 'we' and to replace the individual protagonist with a kind of collective hero.

Borrowing techniques from Pilniak, Dos Passos and the French Unanimists, he created a rapid, fluent style incorporating vernacular elements of slang, documentary journalism and cinematographic realism. At the same time, the density of his writing, with its simultaneous presentation of external detail and interior monologue, tends to blur the boundaries between past and present, inner and outer life, permitting occasional flights of what can only be described as a cosmic lyricism."

Richard Greeman

Click here to read an edited version of Victor Serge and the Novel of Revolution by Richard Greeman

BIRTH OF OUR POWER
Naissance de notre force
(Editions Reiter, Paris 1931)

CONQUERED CITY
Ville conquise
(Editions Reiter, Paris 1932)

MIDNIGHT IN THE CENTURY
S'il est minuit dans le siecle
(Grasset, Paris 1939)

THE LOST MEN
Les Hommes perdus
(Written 1933-36, confiscated by NKVD)

THE BLIZZARD
La Tourmente
(Written 1933-36, confiscated by NKVD)

THE CASE OF COMRADE TULAYEV
L'affaire Toulaev
(Editions de Seuil, Paris 1948)

THE LONG DUSK
Les derniers temps
(Editions d'arbre, Montreal 1946)

THE PITILESS YEARS
Les années sans pardon
(François Maspero, Paris 1971)