A generously annotated revised version of Janecek's 1971 translation of the famous Joycean autobiographical novel (1917-18) by the pseudonymous Russian symbolist poet (Boris Bugaev, 1880-1934), best known for his explosively comic modernist novel Petersburg (1970). Kotik Letaev is a radically different work: a meticulous, mellifluous rendering of its eponymous narrator's early childhood; a rich array of sensory impressions that cohere as Kotik's half-comprehending observations of his indulgent parents' incompatibility, and also as Bely's complex dramatization of the quasi-Platonic principles of Rudolf Steiner's once-famous doctrine of anthroposophy. Intricate, demanding, ultimately very rewarding fiction from one of the most accomplished and intriguing of all Russian writers. (Kirkus Reviews)