Andrei Bitov
Biography
Andrei Bitov is one of the most important Russian writers of the last fifty years, justly famous for his groundbreaking post-modern novel Pushkin House. Born in Leningrad in 1937, Bitov spent the war in evacuation in the Urals and Uzbekistan. After returning to his native city in 1944, Bitov became a geologist, travelling all over the Soviet Union. He started writing short stories in 1959, but did not become a full-time writer until he moved to Moscow in 1963.
International fame arrived with the publication of Pushkin House in America in 1978. Bitov’s novel, described by Frank Kermode as ‘full of fiery intelligence’, is both a densely allusive reflection on the Russian literary tradition and a sharp analysis of the recent Soviet past.
Bitov is now a giant of the literary scene: he has been named a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres by the French government, and been awarded a plethora of prizes, including the Pushkin Prize (1989), the Andrei Belyi Prize (1990), the State Award of the Russian Federation (1997) and the Bunin Prize (2006). His work has been translated into all the world’s major languages.
Books /selected/
Преподаватель симметрии / Teacher of Symmetry, 2008
Похороны Доктора / Doctor's Funerals, 1999
Новый Гулливер / New Gulliver (1997)
В четверг после дождя / On Thursday After It Rained (1997)
In Translation /selected/
in English
Captive of the Caucasus (2004)
Life Without Us (1999)
The Monkey Link (1993)
Pushkin House (1978)
Prizes and awards /selected/
2006 - Bunin Award
1997 - State Award of the Russian Federation
1990 - Andrei Bely Prize
1990 - Best Foreign Book of the Year Award - France