Captain Ribnikov by Aleksandr Kuprin

Name: Captain Ribnikov
Author: Aleksandr Kuprin

Staff-Captain Ribnikov, a lodger in Petersburg's Pieski quarter, receives a telegram from Irkutsk reading "Send lists immediately watch patient pay debts," then tells his landlady he is leaving on business for a day or two and never returns. For five days he rushes about Petersburg — through streets, restaurants, theatres, tramcars, stations, the Staff Office, the Committee for the Care of the Wounded, police stations, the Military Governor's office, and Cossack headquarters — playing the part of a shabby, garrulous, lame infantry officer who claims to have served in the Army Transport, been wounded in the head at Liao-Yang and in the leg at Mukden, and to be owed back pay and travelling expenses. Officials find him tiresome but harmless, and he begs cigarettes, follows war news with strange intensity, and repeatedly sends telegrams to Irkutsk expressing concern for someone seriously ill. He takes a room in a cheap hotel near the railway station, keeping a holdall, travelling bag, and a box of civilian clothes, and sleeps little. The journalist Vladimir Ivanovich Schavinsky meets him at the reporters' haunt "The Glory of Petrograd," among regulars like the Three Musketeers (Kodlubtzov, Riazhkin, Popov), Kondrashov ("the Pathological Case"), Matanya, Svischov, and the poet Piestrukhin. Ribnikov introduces himself loudly, tells crude soldier's stories (the "Butundu" anecdote, a claim of drinking with Chekhov), and reacts with a flash of hidden fury when Kodlubtzov jokes about Russian soldiers surrendering "without number." Schavinsky, a collector of odd human types, notices that Ribnikov's full face looks strikingly foreign — Kalmuck-like, with slanted eyes and a beast-like expression — though his profile seems ordinary. The drunken poet Piestrukhin calls him "Jap mug." Schavinsky spends the whole day and night with him — at the races, in restaurants, at his own home (where Ribnikov reads aloud with oddly over-precise pronunciation and writes, sealed under paper pinned to Schavinsky's autograph table, the line "Though you are Ivanov the seventh, you're a fool all the same"), and later at a café chantant with friends Zhenin-Lirsky, Sashka Strahlmann, and Karyukov, who jokingly call Ribnikov by the names of Japanese generals. Schavinsky directly accuses him of being a Japanese officer and spy; Ribnikov only deflects with proverbs and denials, though his eyes show flashes of inhuman hatred, and once, hearing of the Samurai volunteers' bloody signatures, he nearly breaks down before catching himself with an oath. The group goes on to a luxurious brothel-club. There Ribnikov goes to a room with a woman called Clotilde (real name Nastya). Exhausted and starved for tenderness, he makes love to her with unusual gentleness and passion, murmuring foreign words, then falls into a tormented sleep, moaning and crying out "Banzai!" in Japanese. Frightened, Nastya leaves him sleeping and goes to tell her friend Genka and Genka's lover Leonka — a boastful house detective given to self-glorifying stories of catching criminals and foiling bombers — about the strange officer. Jealous of Leonka's tales, she recounts Ribnikov's Japanese looks and delirium, ending with "Banzai." Leonka investigates, peers through the keyhole, and decides to act, summoning police. Ribnikov wakes instantly, sees Nastya's frightened stare, and realizes what has happened. He dresses swiftly and calmly, threatens Nastya into silence, and when police pound on the door, leaps to the window intending to escape across the yard. Nastya screams and grabs his arm, causing him to fall awkwardly onto the stones below. Leonka jumps after him and pins him down. Lying broken and pale, with hate still burning in his eyes, Ribnikov only whispers, "Don't crush me... My leg's broken."

By Aleksandr Kuprin · First published 1906 · Genre: Adventure, Drama, Historical Fiction · 7 chapters · 16,691 words

First lines

On the very day when the awful disaster to the Russian fleet at Tsushima was nearing its end, and the first vague and alarming reports of that bloody triumph of the Japanese were being circulated over Europe, Staff-Captain Ribnikov, who lived in an obscure alley in the Pieski quarter, received the following telegram from Irkutsk: Send lists immediately watch patient pay debts.

Staff-Captain Ribnikov immediately informed his landlady that he was called away from Petersburg on business for a day or two, and told her not to worry about his absence. Then he dressed himself, left the house, and never returned to it again.

What this Textopian page supports

Captain Ribnikov is listed on Textopian as a novella by Aleksandr Kuprin, dated 1906 CE.

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Work type: Novella
Author: Aleksandr Kuprin
Date: 1906 CE
Language: English
Genres: Adventure, Drama, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Romance
Length: 16,691 words
Structure: 7 chapters, 289 paragraphs
Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

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Similar titles

Genres

Adventure — The plot centers around maritime adventures and the challenges faced at sea.
Drama — The narrative explores complex human emotions and relationships among the crew.
Historical Fiction — The setting and events reflect historical maritime practices and societal norms.
Literary Fiction — The writing style emphasizes character development and thematic depth.