The Matiushin Case by Oleg Pavlov
The Matiushin Case is one of the darkest and most powerful works of fiction to appear in Russian in the last twenty years. Deriving from Pavlov's own traumatic experience as a conscript in the Soviet Union, it follows the ordeals of Matiushin, a sensitive, disoriented young man, damaged by brutality first within his family and then the army.
'This lucid translation of Pavlov's powerful quasi-autobiographical novel confronts the horror of Russian history - a timeless quest for existential meaning and deals with the horror of Russian history through the microcosm of an individual's journey into hell' Phoebe Taplin, The Guardian -------- 'Russian Booker Prize winner Pavlov (Captain of the Steppe) plunges readers into the grim realities of Soviet military life in the early 1980s ... Bromfield, well-known for his translations of contemporary Russian literature, ably renders Pavlov's prose with extremes of lyricism and banality. Pavlov pulls off a harrowing tale about institutional cruelty and the perversions of character that it produces.' Publishers Weekly -------- 'Written in a bare, stilted style, it never plays for the high drama - choosing instead to beat steadily on from one absurdity to the next, coolly piling horror on top of horror - Seen through a lens softened by exhaustion and cheap vodka, Pavlov's dark picture of existence becomes wryly amusing and often almost whimsical in its black humour.' Ross McIndoe, The Skinny -------- 'Images of violence and pain linger with the reader long after the book is finished. Not for the faint hearted.' Scarlett MccGwire, Tribune -------- '[A] descent into an uncaring military world.' San Francisco Book Review-------'[A] small stunner: brutal, salty, pulsing with hallucinatory beauty and lyrical grace - Pavlov's portrait of helpless young men trapped in an insane system comes out as a sly, sad, occasionally joyous tragicomedy about power, helplessness, escape, and what it's like to be young.' Pete Mitchell, Booktrust, Best Translated Books of 2014------
Oleg Pavlov is one of the most highly regarded Russian writers alive today. He has won the Russian Booker Prize (2002) and Solzhenitsyn Prize (2012) among many other awards. Born in Moscow in 1970, Pavlov spent his military service as a prison guard in Kazakhstan. Many of the incidents portrayed in his fiction were inspired by his experiences there; he recalls how he found himself reading about Karabas, the very camp he had worked at, in Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago. He later became Solzhenitsyn’s assistant and was inspired to continue the great writer’s work. Pavlov’s writing is firmly in the tradition of the great Russian novelists Dostoyevsky and Solzhenitsyn. He was only 24 years old when his first novel, Captain of the Steppe, was published, receiving praise not only from critics but from the jury of the Russian Booker Prize, which shortlisted the novel for the 1995 award. Pavlov went on to win the Prize in 2002 with his next book, The Matiushin Case (English translation published in 2014 by And Other Stories). The Matiushin Case was the second novel in what would become the thematic trilogy set in the last days of the Soviet empire: Tales from the Last Days. All three works in the trilogy are stand-alone novels. The third book, Requiem for a Soldier, was published by And Other Stories in 2015.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781908276360 |
| ISBN 10 | 1908276363 |
| Title | The Matiushin Case |
| Author | Oleg Pavlov |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | And Other Stories |
| Year published | 2014-07-08 |
| Number of pages | 256 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |