Wings: A Story in Three Parts
1906
Mikhail Kuzmin
Berlin : Petropolis
Russian
Autobio Fiction
119pp
Gay Men, Hellenic, Queer Experience
It does sometimes happen too, they say, that a woman loves a woman and a man a man… And it’s not hard to believe it—is it not possible for God to put that thorn into the human heart, too, then? And it’s hard, Vanya, to go against what has been put in; and perhaps it’s sinful too.
Summary
aka Крылья: повесть в трех частях or Flügel. A semi-autobiographical novel which centers a Russian teen's relatonship to his mentor, Stroop, a scholar of early Renaissance art. Vanya travels from St. Petersburg towards Rome and slowly comes to an understanding of his and Stroop's homosexuality. The title alludes to Plato's Phaedrus.
Content & Trigger Warnings
(highlight to reveal)
SUICIDE: in parts 1 and 2.
Editions
Balance/Весы (1906) No. 11.
Moscow : Scorpion (1907) 104pp. Cover by Nikolai Petrovich Feofilaktov seen at Lot Art.
Moscow : Scorpion (1908) second edition. 112pp. Cover by Nikolai Petrovich Feofilaktov.
Berlin : Petropolis (1923) cover by UNC libraries.