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to compare Shteyngart to the great Vladimir Nabokov. . .
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[EDNOTE. Sandy Klein sends another review (from the Cleveland, Ohio,
Plain Dealer) of Gary Shteyngart's new novel, Absurdistan, which
compares him to VN. - - SES]
A skillful black comedy about post-Red Russia
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Laura DeMarco
[. . . . ] The book follows the travails of Misha Borisovich Vainberg,
the grotesquely obese, painfully self-obsessed, dilettantish, somewhat
self-loathing Jew and very lonely 30-year-old son of the 1,238th richest
man in Russia.
Though he likens himself to Dostoevski's Prince Myshkin -- "Like the
prince, I am something of a holy fool . . . an innocent surrounded by
schemers" -- Misha is an unlikely hero. He is "a sophisticate and
melancholic," much more of a Nabokovian malcontent than a Dostoevskian
saint.
It would be overreaching to compare Shteyngart to the great Vladimir
Nabokov. But Nabokov's influence is everywhere in "Absurdistan,"
tempered by Shteyngart's strong Jewish sensibility and the cultural
upheaval of the post-Cold War era.
Here's a link to the entire review:
http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/114690431947620.xml&coll=2
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Plain Dealer) of Gary Shteyngart's new novel, Absurdistan, which
compares him to VN. - - SES]
A skillful black comedy about post-Red Russia
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Laura DeMarco
[. . . . ] The book follows the travails of Misha Borisovich Vainberg,
the grotesquely obese, painfully self-obsessed, dilettantish, somewhat
self-loathing Jew and very lonely 30-year-old son of the 1,238th richest
man in Russia.
Though he likens himself to Dostoevski's Prince Myshkin -- "Like the
prince, I am something of a holy fool . . . an innocent surrounded by
schemers" -- Misha is an unlikely hero. He is "a sophisticate and
melancholic," much more of a Nabokovian malcontent than a Dostoevskian
saint.
It would be overreaching to compare Shteyngart to the great Vladimir
Nabokov. But Nabokov's influence is everywhere in "Absurdistan,"
tempered by Shteyngart's strong Jewish sensibility and the cultural
upheaval of the post-Cold War era.
Here's a link to the entire review:
http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/114690431947620.xml&coll=2
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm