Doorstop tradition revived in Russia

[Ya Sam]

The reviews of this novel are divided. Some trash it, some proclaim it to be 
a masterpiece. One of the main strands of the text is an evil satire against 
contemporary Russian avant-garde artists (a Whole Sick Crew of sorts). One 
of the episodes mentioned in a review is really hilarious and Pynchonesque: 
An artist publicly sodomises a ferret as part of performance and 
subsequently falls in love with him.


>From: rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com>
>To: "Catherine Edwards" <catherinemarymary at yahoo.co.uk>
>CC: jd <wescac at gmail.com>, "Ya Sam" <takoitov at hotmail.com>,        
>pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: Re: Doorstop tradition revived in Russia
>Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2006 10:37:10 -0400
>
>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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