Yama (The Pit)

Translated from the Russian by Bernard Guilbert Guerney.

"All the horror is in just this, that there is no horror ..."

Author's Dedication: I know that many will find this novel immoral and indecent; nevertheless, I dedicate it with all my heart to MOTHERS AND YOUTHS—A. K.

Translator's Dedication: I dedicate the labour of translation, in all humility and sincerity, to K. ANDRAE. B. G. G.

Translator's Note:

A word must be said of Kuprin's style. He is by no means a purist; his pages bristle with neologisms and foreign--or, rather, outlandish--words; nor has he any hesitancy in adapting and Russianizing such words. He coins words; he is, at times, actually Borrowesque, and not only does he resort to colloquialisms and slang, but to dialect, cant, and even actual argot. Therein is his glory--and, perhaps, his weakness. Therefore, an attempt has been made, wherever corruptions, slang, and so forth, appear in the original, to render them through the nearest English equivalents. While this has its obvious dubieties and disadvantages, any other course would have smacked of prettification--a fate which such a book as "Yama" surely does not deserve.

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