September 08, 2011

Review: New Fiction for Russophiles


Review: New Fiction for Russophiles

The New Moscow Philosophy Vyacheslav Pyetsukh (Twisted Spoon, $16)
The Sky is Falling Caroline Adderson (Thomas Allen, $32.95)
Separate Kingdoms Valerie Laken (Harper, $14.99)

“It should come as no surprise,” writes Vyacheslav Pyetsukh at the beginning of The New Moscow Philosophy, “that where literature goes life follows, that Russians not only write what they live but in part live what they write…”

The infusion of Russian literature into life is a theme central to all three of these new fiction offerings – from a Russian, a Canadian and an American. Pyetsukh’s absurd novel (published in Russian in 1989 and only now translated – very fluidly – by Krystyna Anna Steiger) ruminates on this aspect self-consciously, spinning a murder mystery out of a riff on Raskolnikov’s killing of the old woman in Crime and Punishment, while at the same time considering why Russians’ sense of self (National Idea, anyone?) is so bound up with their internal discourse. Not unlike, perhaps, a Raskolnikovian internal monologue. 

Pyetsukh’s Dostoyevskian drama unfolds in a Moscow communal apartment at Petroverigsky Lane 12, in the mid- to late-1980s. Meanwhile, halfway around the world, in Caroline Adderson’s stunningly visual novel The Sky is Falling, the story centers on a Canadian communal apartment of sorts during the same era. The main character Jane, is at university studying Russian literature, and has just moved into a home she will share with three other students, each trying to be more radical than the next. Jane soon finds the lines blurring between life and Russian literature. Indeed, the novel begins with a Chekhovian off-stage shot: the downing of KAL 007 by a Soviet MiG. Galvanized by their fear of nuclear war, the housemates become involved in the anti-nuclear movement and launch on trajectories that, 20 years on, none of them could have anticipated.

But then, who of us living through the 1980s foresaw the changes on the horizon? That in 2011 Russia and the U.S. would lock horns not over nuclear launch vehicles but over the rules for transnational adoption? Valerie Laken (herself a student of Russian and one who lived and worked in Russia in the 1990s, after having grown up in Rockford, IL, sensing very palpably the global nuclear threat), in her powerful story collection Separate Kingdoms, evokes this brave new world and all the unexpected effects it has had on Russians, on foreigners trying to live in Russia, on Americans trying to live as Americans. Not all the stories in this collection have a Russian tinge, but enough do to make this a noteworthy aspect that should give ample reason for Russophiles to take an interest in Laken’s moving stories.

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
November 01, 2012

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

The Latchkey Murders
July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

Bears in the Caviar
May 01, 2015

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.

A Taste of Chekhov
December 24, 2022

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.

Faith & Humor
December 01, 2011

Faith & Humor

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

The Little Humpbacked Horse
November 03, 2014

The Little Humpbacked Horse

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.

Murder at the Dacha
July 01, 2013

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.

The Samovar Murders
November 01, 2019

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955