num_pages: 268
description: One of the most important works of twentieth-century Russian prose, Kotik Letaev, the great symbolist novel of childhood, depicts the emergence of consciousness and its development into self-consciousness in a Russian boy growing up among the Moscow intelligentsia in the 1800s.Kotik's experience is based on elements from Bely's own early childhood, but on a larger level his experience represents the stages of human history, the history of philosophy, and childhood language development. The story, seen through the eyes of a child from the age of three to five years, is told in complex, poetically developed adult language, rich in imagery and musical sound effects.
language: English
title: Kotik Letaev
titlecomplete: Kotik Letaev (European Classics)
genres: Russia, Russian Literature, 20th Century, Literature, Fiction
ratings_count: 81
publisher: Northwestern University Press