A Novel of London

A Novel of London is a classic of European modernism that established Serbian writer Miloš Crnjanski (pronounced Tsern-YUN-ski) as one of the great eastern European voices of the 20th century. The over-600-page translation was released at the London Book Fair in March 2020. This is the first English edition, almost five decades after the publication of the original. Published in Belgrade in 1971 as Roman o Londonu, the novel follows an aging Russian émigré, Nikolai Repnin, as he attempts to make a life in the British capital in the 1940s, painting a starkly revelatory portrait of the war-battered city through the eyes of a person living in a constant state of rejection and alienation. Born a Russian noble in pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg, Repnin is now reduced to eking out a living from odd jobs in the huge city, whose buildings, monuments, citizens and customs he portrays with fascination. Repnin is beset by memories of home but has no opportunity of making a home in the new environment. Despite the title, the book is far more than just a novel about London. As Repnin wanders the streets and the bureaucracy of the bombed-out city, reminiscing about his opulent past in Russia and subsequent odyssey through Europe’s cities after the Revolution, he encounters a host of émigrés from around the world, whose stories also unfold. A pan-European portrait of class structures and the real effects of the war emerges, a vision whose depth and scope may be unmatched in 20th century literature. While Crnjanski can be scathing and even cynical, the book is peppered with humor and quirky details that introduce levity and help create a sensitive, expressionist collage. Repnin is accompanied through most of the novel by his beautiful wife, Nadya, ten years his junior, whom he wishes to save from poverty by sending her to America to stay with her aunt, also a Russian émigré, who has found her feet in New York. Their marital drama is one of the main themes of A Novel of London. Repnin’s encounters with White Russian émigrés, and Britons with certain vested interests, allow intrigue and espionage to be developed as subthemes. There is also a definite existentialist strand as Repnin contemplates suicide, particularly after his wife’s departure for the New World. Read more