Robert Porter
When Academia Rossica approached me to serve on the jury for their translation prize, I was excited and intrigued. What would the field be like, how many entries would there be, were there still publishers around in the West willing to produce translations of serious Russian works? The classics apart, was there more to Russian literature for English-speaking people than penguins and historical detectives? My caricature of the average Western reader's view of Russian literature today can perhaps be excused in part by my own education.
Anthony Briggs
Izbavi Bog i nas ot etakikh sudei
A few weeks ago something strange happened. Someone sent me, through the post, ten million printed words – I’ll repeat that, in case you weren’t concentrating: ten million words – nearly half of them in a difficult foreign language. I was told to get reading them.
A few weeks ago something strange happened. Someone sent me, through the post, ten million printed words – I’ll repeat that, in case you weren’t concentrating: ten million words – nearly half of them in a difficult foreign language. I was told to get reading them.
The Sacred Book of the Werewolf
by Victor Pelevin
Translated by Andrew Bromfield
Faber and Faber, 2008, pp.333
Described as "the Zen Buddhist Will Self of the former Evil Empire", Victor Pelevin is a star of contemporary Russian literature. The Sacred Book Of The Werewolf is an extraordinarily accomplished piece of contemporary writing that mashes up an assortment of genres: horror, humour, romance, fantasy, satire and post-modern self-reflexivity and sampling. The result is something that has to be classified as "high" literature, if only because of its entanglings in and borrowings from the work of Vladimir Nabokov and its deadly serious critique of contemporary Russian society under Putin.
Translated by Andrew Bromfield
Faber and Faber, 2008, pp.333
Described as "the Zen Buddhist Will Self of the former Evil Empire", Victor Pelevin is a star of contemporary Russian literature. The Sacred Book Of The Werewolf is an extraordinarily accomplished piece of contemporary writing that mashes up an assortment of genres: horror, humour, romance, fantasy, satire and post-modern self-reflexivity and sampling. The result is something that has to be classified as "high" literature, if only because of its entanglings in and borrowings from the work of Vladimir Nabokov and its deadly serious critique of contemporary Russian society under Putin.
Do Time Get Time
by Andrei Rubanov
Translated by Andrew Bromfield
Old Street Publishing; August 2008; pp.521
Twenty-seven-year-old Andrei always knew his shady business dealings could get him into trouble. But aside from the odd scam or tax fiddle, he'd never done anything seriously wrong; nothing that thousands of other Russian businessmen weren't doing every day. And so he agreed to be the fall guy for his boss when things went wrong.
Translated by Andrew Bromfield
Old Street Publishing; August 2008; pp.521
Twenty-seven-year-old Andrei always knew his shady business dealings could get him into trouble. But aside from the odd scam or tax fiddle, he'd never done anything seriously wrong; nothing that thousands of other Russian businessmen weren't doing every day. And so he agreed to be the fall guy for his boss when things went wrong.
Irina Prokhorova
Founding Director of the Moscow publishing house New Literary Review, which is publishing hundreds of serious scholarly and academic books, as well as two of the most highly respected academic cultural journals. A former president of the Russian Booker Prize Committee.
Rossica 17
FOUND IN TRANSLATION
This special issue is devoted to the Rossica Translation Prize, awarded in 2007 for the second time
This special issue is devoted to the Rossica Translation Prize, awarded in 2007 for the second time
Rossica 17
FOUND IN TRANSLATION
This special issue is devoted to the Rossica Translation Prize, awarded in 2007 for the second time
This special issue is devoted to the Rossica Translation Prize, awarded in 2007 for the second time