Uncategorized – Contemporary Russian Literature

Ostromov, or the Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Dmitrii Bykov

Following is an excerpt from the chapter “A Manual on Levitation” from the 2010 novel Ostromov, ili uchenik charodeiia: posobie po levitatsii, (Ostromov, or the Sorcerer’s Apprentice) by Dmitrii Bykov. In 2010, the work was awarded “Best Form” by the Ukrainian literary organization Portal, which consists of authors, publishers and editors. It was the best-selling book in Russia throughout 2011.

Translated by Kristina Uvarova
Edited by Michael Marsh-Soloway

A Manual on Levitation

Aleksey Alekseevich Galitsky was a hopeful man and it ruined him. Until 1918 he played in Berk’s private theater, but Berk left and the theater was closed. It was easier for Galitsky than for many: he did not have to provide for a family, preferring the comforts of a bachelor and non-burdensome contacts to the shackles of a household. In 1918 he was 48 years old, robust, and, as they said, trustworthy. His search for income led him to a group of lecturers, PCCMS (PECUCU) – The Petrograd Commission of Cultural Management of Scholars, founded by the passionate propagandist of the spoken word, Tabachnikov. Tabachnikov proposed that since oral language is easier to master than written language, all teaching in the schools of the victorious proletariat should be converted to verbal lectures on all branches of knowledge, but especially on reading aloud, and for this Galitsky proved indispensable. He was there, rain or shine, he started in the high school and university classes, but then, when Tabachnikov expanded his power, he went to the factory workers; his voice rose, he wheezed, and Galitsky read.

It was certainly a joyless activity. Aleksey Alexeyevich never admitted it to himself, boasting to his friends that an audience always filled him with gratitude and energy. But it was hard to read to children or workers, especially in long, cold halls with dusty windows. The new repertoire consisted mainly of verses by the proletarian poet Kirillov, which were long and passionate, like bright red ribbons. The verses didn’t affect the audience, and yet they were disagreeable to him, and even the old people almost completely fell into illegality. He departed from the routine and instead mastered the compositions of Balmont and Minsky, who had enough red ribbon in their time. But he managed to drag a love letter, no more than five verses. The rest of the time the proletarians were sleepily fixed, as they are always tired after any work.

But he was so happy to return home on foot through the sleeping city, where for some reason he did not meet a single one of the legendary thieves about whom there was so much gossip. Aleksey Alekseyich walked through the snowy Petrograd, the fair city without lights, and read everything he wanted to the frozen drifts. These returns were saved only by his blessed memory and the readings in front of proletariat he completely forgot. They provided him with a poor ration and it was all that was required of them. Well, sometimes he appeared grateful in the proletarians’ eyes and even astonished, with which the love toward art always begins. And shortly somebody from among the grateful proletarians informed against him. They didn’t get together after the work day for listening about the old regime; and Tabachnikov set a great scandal for Aleksey Alekseyich.

He shouted that his innovative theory met unbridled resistance, that there is a necessity to read to the workers and not lyrics about the bouqu-u-u-ets (which Galitsky had never read in his life), but to give them basic knowledge, at least of physics, and in case the actors are too useless to read from a course on physics, then at least let us give them an unperturbed program, so that nobody acts audaciously! Aleksey Alekseyich felt that something important was not said and hence he grinned widely out of delicateness, submitted his resignation from PCCMS, and suggested that he should find other opportunities so that nothing terrible happens… In a minute Tabachnikov calmed down, became softer and even called him his dear friend, he shook his hand for a long time and swore to return Galitsky to his position as soon as the opponents of the oral reading calmed their villainous heat, and you know, took a deep breath.

So Aleksey Alekseevich remained without service, but as we know, he was a hopeful man, so he didn’t lower his head, and turned to Victor Petukhov the director of SHKURa number five, althought it was called the Grade A school on the Vyborg side. Petukhov was also an experimenter, but so was everybody else. Nothing was to be taught in simplicity, everything only with the help of an unprecedented methodology. So it seemed to Petuhkov that for proper assimilation one needs an active body, and in general he expressed that the memory of the body was stronger than that of the mind. Every physical law corresponded to its own physical exercise. Aleksey Alekseevich came to the Petuhkov and offered him his service. Already in the fall of 1919, he started teaching a course, where, with time, the comrades of SHKURa‘s members had been drawn. They not only put on “The Tale of Tsar Saltan”, and “The Flea”, but also took up Shakespeare. Of course, it had to all to be within the limits of the antimonarchical repertoire, just to strike social evils under the curtains, but Aleksey Alekseevich contrived here to twist his own evil, to read them Bryusov, and to see in their eyes…

What could be seen in the hungry yellow eyes of high school students in 1919? But it seemed to him that that his word was cascading upon a gentle soil, and indeed, as though a pair, hunted and hopelessly abased, began to bloom and even imitate something, Aleksey Alekseevich invited them to his home to drink carrot tea and to talk intimately, and several times, he was trusted to lead the lesson when the philologist was ill, but most unbearable was the demand of Petuhkov to sit during the reading of “Eugene Onegin”, so that the whole class also sat.

But there was such happiness to arrive home on foot in that wonderful hour, when the day declines into night, but it was still luminous and just above Petrograd stretched a carrot-tinged, no better to say apricot dawn! How pleasurable it was to read to the trusting booby, Anisimov, anything from a beloved work, noticing that he asked more and more meaningful questions! In everything, positively in everything, it was possible to find charm and meaning, and if you could look with uncomplicated eyes, Aleksey Alekseyich Galitsky could have been happy at this post, if Petuhkov had not committed an offense with something before the authorities and his school was dissolved. What’s more, the dejected Anisimov and Malakhov, who had just understood and committed something to memory, went to work: one of them to the depot, another one to the Trotsky tobacco factory, and there they were immediately destined to forget everything that they were taught by the eccentric artist.”

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Translations of the excerpts from the works of modern writers are made for the educational purposes only.

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The New Russian Literature

One of our goals is to introduce the new Russian literature to readers in America. Despite the appearance of many talented new authors, only a few of them have had works translated into English and become known to the western public. Even less known in the West is the younger generation of Russian authors, whose talented and fresh voices have begun to change the literary landscape in Russia in recent years.

Since 2000, the Russian Foundation’s Debut Prize has helped to discover and aid a new generation of Russian literary talent by nominating and awarding the Debut Prize to the most outstanding and original works by young authors.

This new generation of writers and poets has the potential and ambition, and most importantly – the talent – to become potential future classics of Russian literature. The works of the finalists of the Debut Prize create a vibrant, colorful image of the new Russian literature, free from the limitations of the past and now more open to the world.

As part of the outreach program, the New York-based non-profit Causa Artium, in partnership with the Debut Prize Foundation, started the New Russian Literature Program and in February 2012 sponsored a tour of the prize-winning young writers from Russia: Alisa Ganieva (2009), Dmitry Biryukov (2005), Irina Bogatyreva (2006), and Igor Savelyev (2004). The thematic and literary styles of these authors are different, as different as their experiences. In all of their works, however, one can see the talent, humor, and optimism which are influencing the phenomenon of the New Russian Literature – genuine, multifaceted, and fearless.

Among the works submitted to American audiences in Washington DC, Boston, and New York were “Salam, Dalgat!” by Alisa Ganieva (2009) and collections of short stories like “Off the Beaten Tracks” and “Squaring the Circle“ (short stories by winners of the Debut Prize), 2010.

Olga Slavnikova

Olga Slavnikova is one of the most renowned contemporary writers in Russia. She was born in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) in the Urals to the family of aerospace engineers. After graduating from Yekaterinburg State University, Slavnikova worked as a fiction editor, then managing editor of the literary magazine ‘Urals’. She has lived and worked in Moscow since 2001. Her first novel was published in 1988. Among her acclaimed novels are Стрекоза, увеличенная до размеров собаки (‘Dragonfly the Size of a Dog’), Бессмертный (‘Immortal’).

But her real magnum opus is 2017 – a fascinating love story set in her native Urals Mountains region. The novel is also a philosophical reflection on the dramatic history of Russia and its future, beauty of the nature, and it’s full of references to the mythology of her native Urals. It won the Russian Booker Prize in 2006.

Alisa Ganieva

Alisa Ganieva was born in 1985 in Moscow, but soon moved with her family to their native Dagestan. A graduate of Moscow’s Literary Institute, Ganieva has since won numerous awards for her prose and also a prize for her literary criticism.

She was propelled to true stardom by her work Salam tebe, Dalgat! (2009).

From the first strophes of Salam tebe, Dalgat! one is introduced to the marvelous world of the Caucasian Dagestan village where people are discussing subjects unimaginable from a Western perspective – how to steal a bride and where you need to drink your vodka till the last drop – which are all happening at a party with various colorful personages. And there the party could end in the assassination.

Sometimes the tale is written with an incredible sense of humor, but beneath the exotic facade is an exploration of the problems of humanity written with such talent that it makes the story about Dalgat the true discovery.

It is all the more unusual that this work was a written by a young woman, who was hiding behind the name of a young Dagestani fighter named Gulla Khirachev, and who uncovered her true identity only after the announcement of the award of the Debut Prize. This literary mystification only adds to the charisma of Alisa Ganieva. Salam tebe, Dalgat! has since been translated into English.

Dmitry Biryukov

Dmitry Biryukov was born in 1979 in Siberia and lived in Novosibirsk’s “Academic City.” Novosibirsk holds a special place in Russia; it is situated in the heart of Siberia and is populated by a special kind of people who are called “sibiriak” in Russian – strong and independent people.

Biryukov holds degrees in history and philosophy in addition to his post-graduate work at the Institute of Philosophy and Law and the famous Literary Institute in Moscow. After the success of his short story, Birukov has started work on a long novel.

In America Burykov was reading the excerpts from his story Uritsky Street.

Irina Bogatyreva

Irina Bogatyreva was born in 1982 in Kazan, Tatarstan. She is a graduate of the Literary Institute in Moscow in 2005. Since then she has been recognized by numerous literary awards for her stories published in Russia’s leading literary journals.

Bogatyreva’s autobiographical hitchhiking trip from Moscow to Altai was described in her work Off The Beaten Track. What made this story so fascinating to young people? It is a story about a girl alone on the road having adventures and meeting all kinds of people. It is an everyday story but written with a talented eye to the details and understanding of the psychology of young people.

Igor Saveliev

Igor Savelyev was born in 1983 into a family of writers in Ufa, Bashkiria. He still lives there and works as a crime reporter for the local news agency. In 2005, his short novel Pale City won the Debut Prize. It is a wonderful narrative about his native Ufa and young people. One can see the freshness of his style and association with modern cultural icons which attract the young readers to him.

The Librarian by Mikhail Elizarov

Born in 1973 in Ivano-Frankovsk, Ukraine, Mikhail Elizarov could barely remember the Soviet era of his parents’ and grandparents’ generation. In 2007, however, the young writer wrote a book that would come to be associated with the lost generation of Soviet people and won the 2008 Russian Booker Prize. It was the fourth and biggest book of the bright debutant of the 90s and, in essence, the first major post-Soviet novel showing the reaction of the generation of the 30s to the world in which they lived.

The title of the book, Библиотекарь (The Librarian ), deceptively conjures up the expectation of perhaps a quiet evening’s reading. Indeed, The Librarian is a novel about books, about the mystical powers of the written word. At the beginning, one hardly expects the strange upheavals that such books can cause, including the violent refusal of the books’ readers to acknowledge the end of the era by the obscure writer Gromov, and an almost Kafkaesque ending to the book. Gromov’s books had deceptive titles like Fly Happiness or Silver-Flat Waters, but in fact they had the magical power to change the person who read them, and readers began to organize “libraries” or armies to fight for these books. Alexei inherits a The Book of Memory and becomes a “Librarian” without knowing it. Gromov’s books gave different powers to readers; Narva, known as the Book of Joy, has a euphoric effect, and Книга Ярости (The Book of Rage) stimulates anger. But the most important prize in the battle between the libraries is the lost Book of the Meaning. We understand that it is Gromov’s eulogy to Stalin.

The Librarian starts with a quotation from The Foundation Pit by Andrei Platonov. And in a way, Elizarov’s book is a continuation of the ideas of Platonov’s great and tragic book about wasted lives:

“The worker must fully understand that baskets and engines can be made as necessary, but it’s not possible to simply make a song or a sense of excitement. The song is more valuable than mere things…”

Andrei Platonov

Gromov

“The writer Dmitry Alexandrovich Gromov (1910-1981) lived his final days in complete obscurity. His books completely disappeared in the debris of Lethe, and when political disasters destroyed the Soviet motherland, it appeared as though there was nobody left to remember Gromov.

Hardly anyone read Gromov. Of course, the editors who determined the political loyalty of the texts and the critics read it. But it was unlikely for somebody to be worried about and interested in titles like “Proletarian” (1951), “Fly, Happiness!” (1954), “Narva” (1965), “On the Roads of Labor” (1968), “The Silver Flat-Water” (1972), or “The Calm Grass” (197).7).

The biography of Gromov went side by side with the development of the socialist fatherland. He finished middle school and pedagogical college and worked as executive secretary in the factory newspaper’s editorial board. The purges and the repression did not touch Gromov; he quietly endured until June of ‘41 before he was mobilized. He came as a military journalist to the front. In the winter of 1943 Gromov ‘s hands were frostbitten; the left wrist was saved but the right was amputated.

Thus, all of Gromov’s books were created by a forced left-handed man. After the victory, Gromov moved his family from the Tashkent evacuation to Donbass and worked in the editorial office of the city newspaper until his retirement.

Gromov started to write late, as a mature forty-year-old man. He often addressed the theme of the formation of the country, glorified the cotton being of the provincial cities, towns and villages, wrote about mines, factories, the boundless Virgin Soil and harvest battles. The heroes of his books were usually the Chairmen of the Kolkhozes, red directors, soldiers returning from the front, the widows keeping their love and civil courage, the pioneers and Komsomol members – strong, cheerful, and ready for heroic labor. Good triumphed with painful regularity: the metallurgic factories were built in record time, the recent student during his sixth month internship at the factory became a skilled specialist, the plant exceeded the plan and accepted the new one, and the grain in the fall flowed by the golden mountains to the Kolkhoz’s granaries. Evil was rehabilitated or went to prison.”

* * * *

“Although Gromov published more than half a million copies of his books, only a few copies survived in club libraries in distant villages, hospitals, ITKs, orphanages, or otherwise rotting in basements among party congress materials and serials of Lenin’s collected works.

And yet Gromov had devoted fans. They scoured the country for surviving books and would do anything for them. In normal life, Gromov’s books had titles about some shallow waters and grasses. However, Gromov’s collectors used significantly different titles – “The Book of Power”, “The Book of Strength”, “The Book of Rage”, “The Book of Patience”, “The Book of Joy”, “The Book of Memory”, “The Book of Meaning”…

By Mikhail Elizarov

Moscow: Ad Marginem, 2010.

Translated by Elena Dimov, edited by Margarita Dimova

Disclaimer

Translations of the excerpts from the works by the contemporary writers are used in educational purposes for students of modern Russian literature or for literary criticism only.

Many Talents of Dmitrii Bykov

Dmitrii Bykov is one of the most prominent contemporary Russian writers but he is still not known in the West. In 2006 Bykov won the National Bestseller Prize for his book “Boris Pasternak . He became the winner of the National Bestseller Prize again in 2011 for his novel “Ostromov, or the Sorcerer’s Apprentice” . Only several of his works were translated to English: his novel Living Souls was translated to English and published by Alma Books in 2010. Dmitri Bykov is also a poet.

Excerpts from Amid the Empty Meadows…

By Dmitri Bykov
Translated by Michael Marsh-Soloway

“Amid the empty meadows,
In the amber brume of the afternoon,
My sweetheart lies
Curled up beside me.

The bay willow is blooming,
Honey thicket and dogrose,
I, her lover,
Dozed off in the thick grass.

She gazes off somewhere,
Above the thick grass,
Above my pileous,
Dozed-off head–

And thinks, which of
The centrifugal forces
Will sweep us away, shattering
The remnants of our wings.

And all the while, I sleep blissfully,
She looks there,
Where hellish Hades
And black water,

Arms stretching out,
Embrace on the stoop,
And separations are long
And eternal– in the end.

For the time being,
The sultry heat of Hades frightens her–
A dream, warlike and playful,
Through and through, comes to me.

But my dreams are not things
In which there is something prophetic.
I dream only of objects,
And scents, and color.

I dream not of separation,
Or a foreign land,
But the curve of brushwood,
And, perhaps, of her.

And this malachite
Rug beneath my head–
With the dispersal of the battlefield
Into its protective color.

I dream of automatons,
Cartridge pouches, boots,
Some squares,
Some circles”.

Translations of excerpts of the works of modern writers are used for educational purposes and literary criticism only.

Next Generation of Russian classics

Recently, I have heard many questions about who should be considered the best contemporary writer among the new generation of Russian writers. Making predictions about the future is always risky. What do the writers themselves think?

From the interview of the winner of SuperNatsBest ( bestseller of the decade) Zakhar Prilepin for the afisha.ru published on January 14th, 2011: “afisha.ru: “Who, in your opinion, is the best writer of your generation and why? (You don’t need to mention a specific name.)”

Z.P.: “In my generation (the thirty-year-olds) the ones with the best chance of becoming classics are Sergei Samsonov and Mikhail Elizarov. In the next generation up (the forty-year-olds) – Dmitry Bykov and Alexander Terekhov. I can’t say who the best writer is. For example, I like the work of Mikhail Tarkovsky and of Dmitry Danilov. But could I call one of them the best? And why would I? One possible answer to this question is to say that the best is the one who can do more than anyone else. Then the best is Bykov. Another possible answer is that the best is the one who can do something that no one else can. Then it’s Terekhov. The third answer is that the best is the one who does something in a way only he can. Then it is Danilov and Elizarov and Senchin and Shargunov and Ildar Abuzyarov and Andei Rubanov. OK, let’s make this simpler. In reply to your question I’ll name a person who recently wrote a great novel. His name is Alexander Kuznetsov-Tulyanin and the book is called The Pagan. Not many people have read it, which is a real shame”.

Zakhar Prilepin’s interview gave an outline of the modern literary process in Russia. We should not forget however the appearance of the literary tendencies connected to the New Realism in Russian Literature. We will continue the conversation about the best contemporary Russian writers.

http://booksfromrussia.org/news/short-interview-zakhar-prilepin

By Elena Dimov

Welcome

Welcome to Contemporary Russian Literature at the University of Virginia. Contemporary Russian Literature started in the summer of 2011. The goal of this ongoing project is to introduce the works of modern Russian writers to readers, students and scholars alike, interested in finding out about the happenings in the exciting world of modern Russian literature.

The changing publishing landscape in Russia and the entrance of Russia into the modern literary world has created an unprecedented challenge to readers of Russian literature – the emergence of many talented young writers in Russia, previously unknown. Their names have only begun to be recognized by Western readers, but the magnitude and the quality of the new literary wave from Russia exceeds all expectations. It is difficult to speculate whether the appearance of these new talents will match the literary genius of the past, but it is obvious that the fresh, new voices of the younger generation of Russian poets and writers have become much more visible today.

The University of Virginia Library continues to develop its collection of contemporary Russian literature. Our goal is to make this collection available to the university community and to evoke interest among all generations of readers as well as to provide reviews and textual examples of new Russian literature. Our hope is to become a place where readers can find translations and reviews of modern Russian writers.

The partnership with UVA’s Sciences, Humanities & Arts Network Technological Initiatives (SHANTI) has provided valuable assistance and guidance.

For more information about our contemporary Russian literature collection, or to present translations and reviews please contact Elena Dimov or Bud Woodward at UVA Library.