How to Refine Shoe Polish
For years, every time I’ve seen Victor Erofeyev’s name, I’ve wondered if this is the same guy who wrote a very funny, very crazy novel I read twenty years ago which featured the following catchy one-line summary of pre-glasnost Russia: “Nobody knows how Pushkin died, but everybody knows how to refine shoe polish.” (For drinking, that is.)
Anyhow, the translator’s introduction to Erofeyev’s new novel, Life with an Idiot, explains that the author of the book I read — Moscow to the End of the Line — was in fact Venedikt Erofeev, who died in 1990. Andrew Reynolds (the translator) also tells us that Victor’s stories are heavily influenced by his namesake, so maybe (let’s hope) they are just as good. I’d buy it right now except, yes, I’ve bought a few too many books lately.
Like to have a copy of Moscow too …
August 7th, 2006 17:37
The first bilingual English-Russian edition of Pushkin’s Secret Journal http://www.mipco.com/english/pushBiling.html.
It is the most controversial book in Russian Literature.
The hero of the work, Alexander Pushkin, presents in an encapsulated form his various sexual relations, his complex thoughts on life, the nature of sin, love, and creativity, as well as the complicated path that led him to his tragic end.
The Secret Journal has incited and continues to incite the most contradictory responses.
Now translated into 24 languages, The Secret Journal deserves to be placed among the most scandalous works of Russian erotic literature.
This edition is in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the first publication of the Secret Journal in 1986.