Time, Forward!

by Valentin Kataev, Charles Malamuth (Translation), Edward J. Brown (Foreword)

Valentine Kataev's Time, Forward! is a classic of Soviet Realism. Written in 1932, the novel captures the enthusiasm and the optimism of the First Five-Year Plan in its portrayal of the construction of Magnitogorsk, an enormous metallurgical plant considered one of the finest industrial achievements of the period. Time, Forward! embodies the beliefs of the era--that the collective (here a multinational brigade) through its determination and the application of technology can accomplish the impossible, conquer nature, even overcome time. Utilizing cinematic technique, Kataev focuses on a single twenty-four hour period when one of the Magnitogorsk shock-brigades breaks a world record for pouring cement; the result is galvanizing and remarkably affecting.

Genres: Russia, Fiction, Russian Literature, Literature, Novels, Classics, School

345 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1932

About the author

Valentin Petrovich Kataev (Russian: Валентин Катаев; also spelled Katayev or Kataiev) was a Russian and Soviet novelist and playwright who managed to create penetrating works discussing post-revolutionary social conditions without running afoul of the demands of official Soviet style. Kataev is credited with suggesting the idea for the Twelve Chairs to his brother Yevgeni Petrov and Ilya Ilf. In return, Kataev insisted that the novel be dedicated to him, in all editions and translations. Kataev's relentless imagination, sensitivity, and originality made him one of the most distinguished Soviet writers.

Kataev was born in Odessa (then Russian Empire, now Ukraine) into the family of a teacher and began writing while he was still in gimnaziya (high school). He did not finish the gimnaziya but volunteered for the army in 1915, serving in the artillery. After the October Revolution he was mobilized into the Red Army, where he fought against General Denikin and served in the Russian Telegraph Agency. In 1920, he became a journalist in Odessa; two years later he moved to Moscow, where he worked on the staff of The Whistle (Gudok), where he wrote humorous pieces under various pseudonyms.

His first novel, The Embezzlers (Rastratchiki, 1926), was printed in the journal "Krasnaya Nov". A satire of the new Soviet bureaucracy in the tradition of Gogol, the protagonists are two bureaucrats "who more or less by instinct or by accident conspire to defraud the Soviet state". The novel was well received, and the seminal modernist theatre practitioner Constantin Stanislavski asked Kataev to adapt it for the stage. It was produced at the world-famous Moscow Art Theatre, opening on 20 April 1928. A cinematic adaptation was filmed in 1931.

His comedy Quadrature of the circle (Kvadratura kruga, 1928) satirizes the effect of the housing shortage on two married couples who share a room.

His novel Time, Forward! (Vremya, vperyod!, 1932) describes workers' attempts to build the huge steel plant at Magnitogorsk in record time. Its title was taken from a poem by Vladimir Mayakovsky. its theme is the speeding up of time in the Soviet Union where the historical development of a century must be completed in ten years". The heroes are described as "being unable to trust such a valuable thing as time, to clocks, mere mechanical devices." Kataev adapted it as a screenplay, which filmed in 1965.

A White Sail Gleams (Beleyet parus odinoky, 1936) treats the 1905 revolution and the Potemkin uprising from the viewpoint of two Odessa schoolboys. In 1937, Vladimir Legoshin directed a film version, which became a classic children's adventure. Kataev wrote its screenplay and took an active part in the filming process, finding locations and acting as an historical advisor. Many of his contemporaries considered the novel to be a prose poem.

Reviews

[Natalia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Невероятный, удивительный русский язык! Наверное, так могли бы написать "производственный" роман Бунин с Набоковым. А может, и не смогли бы так, как это сделал Катаев.

[brenna · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is about pouring cement.

[sylver · Rating 2 out of 5]

as interesting as a book about one day of pouring concrete can be i suppose
i think its well written but def couldn't have read it if it weren't required reading

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Befitting the title and the subject (an industrial speed competition), this is one of the most dynamic, propulsive novels you could ever hope to read.

[Drew Hearst · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the part where they poured concrete

[Kriegslok · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Time flew through them. They changed in time, as in campaigns. New recruits became fighters, fighters became heroes, heroes became leaders"

A film about mixing and pouring concrete might sound about as exciting as watching concrete set. However, this is a fast paced novel about a record breaking "Shock-Brigade" in 1930's Magnitogorsk. Magnitogorsk was the name given to the city built to service the gargantuan iron and steel works constructed on a virgin site by thousands of Soviet workers as part of the Stalinist programme of industrialisation of the Soviet Union in the 1930's. Shock-Brigades were formed of the most dedicated workers with a commitment to meeting the urgent demands of rapid construction that was to take the Soviet Union from a feudal peasant economy into a developed industrial state in a few short years. Time in this context is always in a rush, plans are set but time is always trying to run ahead, targets look impossible. "Time flowed with such speed that it seemed static. It swirled in a spiral like a steel spring. It whirled and grew numb, ready to rear up at each instant, to ring out and unfurl with a whistle, carrying the elongated and dimly smoking panorama of the sectors behind it with a whirl".
The various brigades are competing to out work each other. As the novel opens Kharkov's brigade has just mixed and laid a record quantity of concrete for a shift. Immediately the buzz around the work site is will another brigade take up the challenge to break that record and if so when. For Georgi Nikolayevich, assistant chief of the whole site, such record breaking is a "stunt" and to be rejected. The effect of speeding up production on the quality of the finished work becomes a big issue in the pages leading up to the taking up of the challenge. It also reveals the power struggles within levels of management and between the brigades, foremen and managers.
Over the opening chapters we learn more about the brigade members, their lives outside and at work. We also meet others who touch on the brigades including wives, journalists, writers, American contractors and visitors. Each has an opinion of the construction and a dream for the future. The Americans' interaction in the story is especially interesting in this period of Soviet history, at the time of economic strife in the USA the USSR is forging ahead and draws workers from around the world keen to be a part of the first workers state.Discussion and banter between Soviet and American is quite blunt and illustrative of the ideals of the era. In a sub plot a kulak tries to draw a Tatar from the revolutionary road. Finally we join the shock brigade as it takes on the challenge to beat time!
"Now Ishchenko opened his eyes, and, for the first time in his life, looked down the entire length of time. It flowed too slowly. But it flowed for him. The past flowed for the future. And it lay securely in his hands. Oh, how good life was, after all"

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Time, Forward! is a novel of Soviet Realism that takes place during the first 5 Year Plan in the the early 1930's. This is an era of history I'm not that familiar with but definitely interested in. As a fan of brutalist architecture that the rapid expansion of progress in the 20th century I was quite intrigued by the setting. The kinds of buildings that this book describes are now crumbling wrecks across the former Soviet Union and it is interesting to see them in a different light; when they were new and a symbol of the future.

Kataev offers a lot of great insight into Soviet life during this time period and the driving force of progress during this time. We often think of the massive advancements in technology and culture in the west during this time but rarely do we consider a place like the Soviet Union as progressing in this way too. This really was the turning point for when Russia went from an agricultural society to an industrial one.

Unfortunately, my knowledge of Soviet culture and history, especially during this time, is quite limited. This book definitely benefits from that kind of background. I think the perfect context for reading this book is reading it in a class on Soviet history or art. I'd imagine that is quite a common scenario as my copy of this book had a hefty layer of university bookstore stickers on the back.

I knew this book was about pouring concrete but I didn't realize that would be the most exciting part of the book. I actually really enjoyed reading these sections. The task of creating the world record and partaking in "socialist competition" was quite exhilarating, unfortunately the rest of the book definitely lost me at times. It takes 200 pages to even get to the concrete pouring and all that time beforehand is just spent talking about how they are going to beat the world record.

Kataev is quite literary with his writing but a lot of the chapters feel disjointed and more like vignettes of Soviet life than an actual story. Of course they do connect to each other but it just didn't feel like it was connected very well. As someone who had just finished reading Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin, this book was definitely a letdown in it's literary prowess.

I'd like to read more on this time period but I don't think this was the best to offer. The search for a favorite Russian classic continues.

[joel · Rating 5 out of 5]

"In the epoch of reconstruction, tempos decide everything." While thoroughly a Stalinist novel—a parable of the heroic energy and suffering required to increase the nation's productive capacity; glorification of the first Five Year Plan—it is equally fascinated in the decidedly modernist idea of a revolutionary temporality, treating reconstruction as both transcending old conceptions of time and creating new temporal experiences. Yes, this is exactly what the French were doing during their revolution, and yes, Kataev is aware of this when he concludes his novel bringing the two revolutions into explicit connection:

In Paris, I have found the sense of history.
We are too young. We have not yet acquired the sense...
And it is not for nothing that Gorky constantly repeats: Write the history of factories and plants. Write the history of the Red Army. Create the history of the great Russian proletarian revolution which is a thousand times greater than the 'great' French revolution. May not a single trifle, not even the smallest detail of our inimitable, heroic days of the first Five Year Plan be forgotten!
And is not the Jaeger concrete-mixer with which the shock-brigades of proletarian youth set world records, more deserving of being preserved in the memory of future generations than the rusty blade of the guillotine?
And is not the football sweater of the shock-brigader, the kerchief and ribbons of a young Communist girl, the passing banner of the shock-brigade... are they not a thousand times more precious to us than Danton’s brown frock-coat, Demoulins’ overturned chair, the Phrygian night cap, the order for arrest signed by the blue hands of Robespierre, the last letter of the Queen, and the faded tri-color cockade, ancient and light, like a dry flower?

There is a also an entire chapter dedicated to the preparation and production of high-grade concrete, complete with calculations and output charts. Incredible sicko shit.

[Sean Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

nearly caught my death of socialist realism pt2 (this book was awesome)

[VeganMilf · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting historical novelty but little recommends it to the average reader

[Johanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel rocks. Forward forward FORWARD!

[Sebastian D'Amico · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best translation but a fascinating glimpse into early Soviet industrial culture

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting book. If you're a monolingual American like me, you might feel a little lost at times just because of the cultural difference between like 1930's Russian and 21st century America - probably to be expected. For me, the book raised a lot of questions about the nature of work - what work is exploitative and what work is meaningful? How do we know? At the end of the day, the whole book is essentially Soviet propaganda which is really interesting to read. It can be hard to read it as NOT satire though.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most famous Soviet production novels written during the first Five-Year-Plan of the early Stalin era, Time Forward is often compared to Gladkov's equally excellent novel Cement, which came out 7 years earlier in 1925.

This socialist realist novel builds slowly even though time and motion swirl by rapidly from the opening page. Little by little, the reader begins to understand the vast undertaking that was Magnitogorsk, as the workers come together to challenge production records recently achieved at two other Soviet construction sites (Kharkov, then Kuznetsk).

The last 100 pages are rushing by me and with just 50 pages to go, I'm still reading on the edge of my seat. I want Kostya's brigade to be victorious; I want Margulies' analytical calculations to work; I'm furious at anyone who gets in their way; and I scoff at Bixby who is so easily distracted by what's really at stake here in Magnitogorsk: the creation of a metallurgical plant that is crucial for the construction of socialism in the USSR.

Now to return to this novel before it gallops away from me.

****
All's well that ends well in this novel. With a few authorial flourishes, Kataev completes this novel in a most satisfactory way, with with the complete panorama of Magnitogorsk finally in view and all of the characters appropriately receiving their due. Margulies, who has labored for 24 hours without a break and without food, has an especially sweet experience in the final pages while other more complicated characters like Bixby, Nalbandov and Sayenko must pay for their miscalculations.

It is stunning that this long, complex novel was written in such a short period (1931-1932) and in
Moscow, 1000s of miles from Magnitogorsk. How was Kataev not writing this book in Magnitogorsk like his less talented and more famous novelist character, Georgi Vasilyevich?

[Matthew Laing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Socialist realism is not for everyone, and it bears remembering the time and place this book was written, and the audience it was intended for. Obviously, the narrative concludes in a somewhat forced way with the triumph of the Soviet spirit and the defeat of non-believers.

But as a writer, I think Kataev is masterful at creating a sense of tempo that infuses the entire book and mirrors closely the dramatic temporal tensions of the plot. It's also an incredible window into the thinking and philosophy of the Soviet mind during a time of incredible change for what was just a couple of decades earlier a predominantly agrarian and semi-feudal society in most places. Not least Magnitogorsk, where narrative explores the taming and relentless transformation of a once-remote and desolate place into a hub of steel production. The characterisations are strong and interesting, and although it certainly serves a moralistic purpose, I believe there to be a lot of subtle, interesting explorations of some of the major issues of the age and the tensions between races, classes, and ideologies in this time.

I feel for those who disliked because of its technical content - it can take some work to get around it. But in line with socialist realism, this is the very point Kataev is making. Instead of writing sagas about the melodramatic moral quandaries and love-lives of the bourgeoisie (which admittedly many of the great Russian authors of the previous century did), socialist realism is striving to tell the tales of the toiling masses and the working classes that underpin urban and literary society. Although I think that style and Kataev's (and Soviet) philosophy is obviously passed its used by date, for what it is I think its fantastic and a great read.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

An entire chapter of this book is devoted to nothing but the technique of how to pour concrete, complete with charts and graphs. Socialist realism in full swing. I appreciated how straightforward this book was, but I didn't enjoy it. This isn't something I would have chosen to read if I didn't have to read it for class and I don't think I'll ever read it again.

[Susanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Had to read this for school. Like paint drying on a wall. I never would have read this of my own volition.

On the other hand, If you really want to get a look at Soviet era labor, quotas, and shock workers…have at it! Definitely a unique reading experience that delivers and informs outside of straightforward nonfiction.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I recognize that this novel has great literary merit for the Soviet Union and that it is written with a unique style. That being said, for the life of me, I could not get through it. If I had more time and patience then maybe I could have.

[Kai]

"The first chapter is omitted for the time being." What a great way to start the novel!

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

borrows techniques of soviet realist montage pretty effectively & provides a vivid look at the hustle and bustle of the First Five-year plan

[RYD · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never heard anything good about Soviet Realism, so I didn't expect much from this book. But despite some of the heavy-handedness, I enjoyed the tempo of the writing a lot.

[Dorian Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't mind all the bits about the process of pouring concrete. I loved all the scenes in which you could see the prominent role that women had, and just how strong they were. Also the situation with Klava and Korneyev absolutely broke my heart.