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Metro (novel)

partly autobiographical novel written in Esperanto by Vladimir Varankin

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJan 15, 2026
Entity authorityQ6824455 ↗
Source-derived summary

Metropoliteno (trans. Subway, Underground, Metro) is a partly autobiographical novel written in Esperanto by Vladimir Varankin about suppression by the state in Germany and the Soviet Union. It was published in Amsterdam in 1933 (200 pages), again in Denmark in 1977, and a third edition in Russia in 1992. There also exist translations in Russian and in English. It is listed in William Auld's Basic Esperanto reading List.

According to The British Esperantist, "The theme is a soviet engineer, who travels to Berlin to study construction methods for subways (underground electrical railways) ... Modern life in the Soviet Union is mirrored beside that of pre-Hitlerite Germany."

Footnotes

External links

Downloadable copy of the Esperanto text

References

Varankin, Vladimir (1933). Metropoliteno (3rd ed.). Amsterdam, Netherlands: Progreso.

The first version of this article is a translation of the entry on Metropoliteno in the Esperanto Vikipedio.

Editorial summary

“Metro (novel)” enters the record as partly autobiographical novel written in Esperanto by Vladimir Varankin. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Metro, novel and partly can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1933, 1977, 1992—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1933-01-01. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Metro, novel and partly.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Metro (novel)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Metro, novel and partly provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6824455. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1933, 1977 and 1992.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Metro (novel)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Metro (novel) primary sources, Metro (novel) archive and Metro research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Metro (novel)”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Metro (novel)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.