Doorstop tradition revived in Russia

[rich]

a bit on the didactic side sounds like
1500 pgs of that would be insufferable

black comedy works much better
rich

On 8/10/06, Catherine Edwards <catherinemarymary at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
> According to a friend his agency in London is David
> Godwin, so hopefully they'll get on the case with
> translation into English.  It sounds brilliant.
>
>
>
> --- jd <wescac at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I wonder if it'll ever be translated...
> >
> > On 8/9/06, Ya Sam <takoitov at hotmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > "A RUSSIAN artist is being heralded as the new
> > Tolstoy after his debut novel
> > > sold out within four weeks in Moscow despite being
> > a daunting 1500 pages
> > > long.
> > > Maxim Kantor, 48, achieved fame on the Russian
> > underground art scene of the
> > > 1980s and 90s and has 140 etchings in the British
> > Museum.
> > >
> > > He decided to write his modern-day War and Peace
> > because he was
> > > disillusioned by Russia's experience of democracy.
> > >
> > > "I always thought I'd write a big novel about what
> > happened to my country
> > > and to the world," he said.
> > >
> > > "It was obvious that in the last 20 years we were
> > passing through a very
> > > dramatic and important period and big questions
> > needed to be asked about
> > > freedom and civilisation.
> > >
> > > "I had been thinking about it for years. Then one
> > day I was suddenly 44 and
> > > I thought, if I don't start now, I never will."
> > >
> > > He spent four years on the epic work, The Drawing
> > Textbook, which opens with
> > > the emergence of Mikhail Gorbachev as Soviet
> > leader in 1985 and follows the
> > > subsequent 20 years of tremendous change in
> > Russia.
> > >
> > > Although it traces the fortunes and thwarted loves
> > of one family of
> > > intelligentsia, it is also a political satire with
> > a huge cast of artists,
> > > critics, secret policemen, oligarchs and
> > politicians, including Boris
> > > Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin and Tony Blair.
> > >
> > > .....
> > >
> > > The book has an unusual structure. Each chapter
> > begins with a couple of
> > > pages on drawing, which together form a textbook.
> > After every two fiction
> > > chapters, there is a political chronicle
> > commenting on the economy, the arts
> > > and world events such as the war in Iraq".
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
>
> http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19134129-5001986,00.html
> > >
> > >
> >
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> > >
> >
>
>
>
>
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