More on Maxim Kantor

[gp]

Got the book in today.  It does include the letters - an oversized
sort of pamphlet included with the cycle of prints, about 70 pages.
So far it is quite good!  I encourage you all to take advantage of
those deals on Amazon for new copies for around three bucks like I
did!

Definitely makes me wish harder that his Handbook of Drawing will get
translated.  This is something I'm going to try to keep up on.  I
wonder if a letter-writing campaign could help?

On 11/26/06, Ya Sam <takoitov at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Definitely, yes. There might be some text, but I think it's more like a
> series of reproductions.
>
>
> >From: gp <wescac at gmail.com>
> >To: "Ya Sam" <takoitov at hotmail.com>
> >CC: pynchon-l at waste.org
> >Subject: Re: More on Maxim Kantor
> >Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2006 23:05:29 -0500
> >
> >Thanks for this - would this be the book?
> >
> >http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/3775711171/ref=reg_hu-wl_item-added/105-7826481-9650813
> >
> >it makes it sound like it's only images, though.
> >
> >On 11/25/06, Ya Sam <takoitov at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >>The author of that Textbook of Drawing that can't find an English
> >>publisher
> >>
> >>"Painter and author Maxim Kantor is an extraordinary man. Usually the
> >>masters of nonverbal art tend to be, well, nonverbal. Artists writing
> >>treatises seem to have vanished with the Renaissance. Earlier this year,
> >>however, Kantor surprised both the artistic and literary communities by
> >>publishing a novel titled "The Drawing Textbook" (Uchebnik Risovaniya).
> >>And
> >>what a novel! At 1,400 large-format pages spread over two volumes, it is
> >>one
> >>of the longest fiction books written recently, and, volume-wise, it rivals
> >>such classic epics of Russian literature as Tolstoy's "War and Peace" or
> >>Sholokhov's "And Quiet Flows the Don." And it wasn't just the size of the
> >>book that invited such comparisons. Many critics said Kantor had revived
> >>the
> >>tradition of the Russian socio-philosophical novel, and others, most
> >>notably
> >>Dmitry Bykov and Grigory Revzin, heralded "Textbook" as a new "great
> >>Russian
> >>novel," a feat that seemed impossible after "The Master and Margarita" and
> >>"Doctor Zhivago."
> >>
> >>
> >>Perhaps it wasn't all that unexpected. Several years ago, Kantor published
> >>"The Wasteland" (Pustyr), a series of seven philosophical letters and 70
> >>etchings. The letters, addressed to a nameless "beloved" who can be
> >>tentatively construed as the embodiment of Western civilization, were
> >>eloquent, elaborate and, indeed, philosophical; in a nutshell, they
> >>contained the seeds of his future novel. This was already a surprising
> >>project for a man better known as a visual artist, but at least the texts
> >>were juxtaposed with graphical works, which is rather common in modern
> >>art,
> >>though typically in smaller portions. "....
> >>
> >>http://www.context.themoscowtimes.com/story/172637/
> >>
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> >>
>
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