Nikolay Vasilevsky
| Author | Mislav Gleich |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | |
| Cover artist | Neven Borić |
| Country | Croatia |
| Language | Croatian |
| Genre | Thriller Horror Absurdist fiction |
| Publisher | Nova knjiga Rast |
Publication date | 2018 |
| Media type | Print (paperback) |
| Pages | 131 pp. |
| ISBN | 978-953-237-174-1 Search this book on  . |
Nikolay Vasilevsky is a 2018 novella by author Mislav Gleich. The story revolves around Nikolay Vasilevsky, a self-proclaimed English Count who keeps a kidnapped 64-year-old baker named Ognjen locked in his secret underground tunnels.
The novella can be seen as a critique of the modern English society.[1][2]
Plot[edit]
In Whitechapel, Nikolay Vasilevsky, a self-proclaimed "Count", visits his prisoner, a 64-year-old baker called Ognjen, in a secret underground tunnel beneath his house. As Vasilevsky tries to leave, Ognjen reminds him of a promise Vasilevsky gave him after capturing Ognjen. Because Ognjen now spent two thousand days in captivity, he has the right to send a letter to his mother and inform her of his well-being. Feeling uneasy, Vasilevsky decides to write the letter himself, and returns to his wife and daughter.
Vasilevsky finds out his daughter, Ceana, has received an invitation to play the piano in a local school competition. Vasilevsky is flattered, but becomes even more uneasy as he expects his daughter to win. The following day, he opens his board-game store and visits Ognjen beneath it. He inquires Ognjen about his mother’s address, which turns out to be in Hanbury Street. After leaving the prisoner, Vasilevsky is soon intrigued by the visit of Shehzad Sayyid, his Pakistani landlord. Threatening that if Vasilevsky does not pay him by the end of the week, Sayyid asserts that the self-proclaimed Count would have to leave the store. Vasilevsky becomes increasingly unsettled.
A customer called Adolf – a local drunkard and a dwarf – purchases some card game packs from Vasilevsky, and shows him his handgun in order to prove that he, Adolf, is dangerous. The dwarf exits the store, but Ceana and her friend Shorty soon enter it. Shorty almost accidentally knocks down the shelf which hides the passage to Ognjen; this even further destabilizes Vasilevsky’s state of mind. As the two children leave, Vasilevsky abruptly chooses to visit Ognjen, but is seen by Adolf, who has returned to buy more cards. Upon seeing the underground tunnel leading to Ognjen, Adolf is hit in the head by Vasilevsky. The Count proceeds to bring Adolf into the tunnels, but Adolf wakes up and knocks Vasilevsky down.
The Count regains consciousness in Ognjen’s cell, realizing that Ognjen has been released by Adolf. In a fit of rage, Adolf accidentally shoots Ognjen in the head and kills him. He and Vasilevsky reluctantly agree never to mention this incident. Adolf releases Vasilevsky and the two go separate ways.
Vasilevsky dreams of his ostensible father – the Duke of Wellington – who tells him that Ceana has to win the upcoming piano competition. Vasilevsky heads off to Ceana’s school and beats up an old woman along the way. He demands the list of piano players for the upcoming competition from Ceana’s headmistress Riham, only in order to sabotage them, but after being told that such a list does not exit, and after realizing that Sayyid’s son Azhar is participating in the competition, he furiously leaves.
Returning home, he orders his wife Gabrielle to make the best possible lunch for Ceana, so that she gets enough energy for the concert. He then enters Ceana’s room where he burns her copy of The Art of War so that she can focus on her piano playing instead of reading. After lunching with his family, Vasilevsky makes Ceana practice piano for a number of hours without stopping, much to her daughter’s displeasure. On Friday, Vasilevsky wanders around Whitechapel and witnesses Adolf getting drunk in a local pub. This prompts him to contemplate about the current state of the world.
On the day of the concert, Vasilevsky, Gabrielle and Ceana head to a nearby theatre. There, they met up with Shorty, and Vasilevsky sees Adolf working on the stage. During the concert, Sayyid’s son Azhar receives a great applause; later, Ceana messes up a music piece after being told to change it in such a way by her father. Azhar is proclaimed winner of the concert, and he seemingly receives a check.
Convinced that there is a conspiracy against him and his family, Vasilevsky heads to Adolf and demands to be given the dwarf's handgun. The two go to the reception, where Adolf goes to get some tonics, while Vasilevsky requests Azhar to give him the money. Shehzad manages to grab hold of Vasilevsky's handgun and tries to shoot him in a fit of rage, but the Count jumps aside, the bullet hitting Adolf. The dwarf falls from the balcony and ends up killing the old woman Vasilevsky beat up earlier.
Later, in his store, Vasilevsky waits for the police to arrest him, accepting his fate. As he exits the store to surrender, his ostensible father on a painting pleasantly smiles.
Analysis[edit]
Nikolay Vasilevsky can be seen as a critique of the modern English society,[1] with the crisis of national identity as the main focus of the novella.
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "HRT.hr – Predstavljanje knjiga". hrt.hr.
- ↑ "Klub Booksa – Predstavljanje knjiga". klub.booksa.hr.
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