Tag: Soviet Union

Fiction, Review Copy, Short Story, Translation

There Once Lived A Girl Who Seduced Her Sister’s Husband, And He Hanged Himself by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya (translated from the original Russian by Anna Summers)

“This is what happened…”  Suddenly, we’re transported into a warm, cramped kitchen. We wrap our hands around a mug of coffee, move our faces over the rim and breath in the steam.  Close your eyes for a moment. Then lean forward with eager anticipation.  That is the kind of intimacy Ludmilla Petrushevskaya conjures with just four words.  “This is what happened.”  Her newest short story … Continue reading There Once Lived A Girl Who Seduced Her Sister’s Husband, And He Hanged Himself by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya (translated from the original Russian by Anna Summers)

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Advance Review Copy, Fiction, History, Translation

The Hunger Angel by Herta Müller (translated from the original German by Philip Boehm)

The Hunger Angel was my introduction to the work of Herta Müller.  First published in 2009, the same year that she received the Nobel Prize, it is (like much of her work) deeply political.  Romania was occupied by the Soviet Union from 1944 to 1958.   Müller’s novel deals with the time immediately following WWII when, as she explains in the book’s afterward: “In January … Continue reading The Hunger Angel by Herta Müller (translated from the original German by Philip Boehm)

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Fiction, History, Literary Awards, Review Copy, Translation

Daniel Stein, Interpreter by Ludmila Ulitskaya (translated from the Russian by Arch Tait)

The title Daniel Stein, Interpreter is loaded with meaning. The novel’s namesake and hero is a Polish Jew gifted with languages. He survived WWII by acting as an interpreter for the Germans, the Belorussians and Soviets. Each time the city of Emsk changed hands, so did Daniel. At times re-translating the same documents over again for each new occupier. It was through his position that … Continue reading Daniel Stein, Interpreter by Ludmila Ulitskaya (translated from the Russian by Arch Tait)

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