''The Last Summer'' is a novella by the Russian writer

Boris Pasternak Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (; rus, Бори́с Леони́дович Пастерна́к, p=bɐˈrʲis lʲɪɐˈnʲidəvʲɪtɕ pəstɛrˈnak; 30 May 1960) was a Russian poet, novelist, composer and literary translator. Composed in 1917, Pa ...

. Originally published in 1934 under the Russian title ''Povest'' (''A Story''), the book relates the reminiscences of Serezha, a young Muscovite spending the winter of 1915-16 with his sister's family in the foothills of the

Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...

. Serezha's flashbacks to the summer of 1914, when he worked as a tutor in the house of a wealthy Moscow merchant and associated with various women, form the bulk of the novella. The book was translated into English by

George Reavey George Reavey (1 May 1907 – 11 August 1976) was a Russian-born Irish surrealist poet, publisher, translator and art collector. He was also Samuel Beckett's first literary agent. In addition to his own poetry, Reavey's translations and critical ...

and was first published in English in Cecil Hemley's magazine in book form '' Noonday'' in its first, 1958 issue, then by Peter Owen Publishers in 1959, before being reprinted in the

Penguin Modern Classics Penguin Classics is an imprint of Penguin Books under which classic works of literature are published in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean among other languages. Literary critics see books in this series as important members of the Wester ...

series in 1960. The introduction was written by Pasternak's sister Lydia Slater. The Publishers Weekly - Volume 177 -1960 Page 328 "10, 1958), there may still be a Boris Pasternak picture in the offing. Christopher Sergei and George Reavey are completing a screenplay based on "The Last Summer." The short novel, a copy of which the author personally presented to ..."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Last Summer 1934 Russian novels Soviet novellas Boris Pasternak