The Man Who Couldn't Die by Marian Schwartz
In the chaos of early 199s Russia, a paralyzed veterans wife and stepdaughter conceal the Soviet Unions collapse from him in order to keep himand his pensionalive, until it turns out the tough old man has other plans. Olga Slavnikovas The Man Who Couldnt Die is an instant classic of post-Soviet Russian literature.
Darkly sardonic. . . oddly timely, for there are all sorts of understated hints about voter fraud, graft, payoffs, and the endless promises of politicians who have no intention of keeping them. It is also deftly constructed, portraying a world and a cast of characters who are caught between the orderly if drab world of old and the chaos of the 'new rich' in a putative democracy. . . . Slavnikova is a writer American readers will want to have more of. * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) *
Rather than celebrate the crumbling of walls, Slavnikova’s novel shows us all the Lenin statues still in place. It portrays a culture chained to old realities, unable to establish a new understanding of itself. This is a funhouse mirror worth looking into, especially in today’s United States with its alternative facts, unpoetic assertions, and morbid relationship with the past. -- Leeore Schnairsohn * Los Angeles Review of Books *
The Man Who Couldn’t Die, lucidly translated by Marian Schwartz, will resound with American readers. Bristling with voter fraud, fake news, and the cozy top-and-tail of media moguls and politicians, Slavnikova’s book is fluent in new language of the damaged reality principle. -- Olivia Parkes * The Baffler *
The Man Who Couldn’t Die is a Gogolian portrait of the Kharitonovs, a Moscow family who 'had not been handed any party favors at capitalism’s kiddie party' after the fall of the Soviet Union. -- Natasha Randall * Times Literary Supplement *
The Man Who Couldn’t Die is an overlooked masterpiece of post-Soviet prose by one of contemporary Russia’s most important authors. It reveals how Slavnikova’s descriptions (and Schwartz’s English equivalent) belong alongside those of Vladimir Nabokov, Iurii Olesha, and Nikolai Gogol as truly revolutionary in Russian prose. -- Benjamin Sutcliffe, Miami University
The Man Who Couldn’t Die is a wonderful depiction of a society in flux, and of the people caught up in these waves of change. * Tony's Reading List *
Rather than celebrate the crumbling of walls, Slavnikova’s novel shows us all the Lenin statues still in place. It portrays a culture chained to old realities, unable to establish a new understanding of itself. This is a funhouse mirror worth looking into, especially in today’s United States with its alternative facts, unpoetic assertions, and morbid relationship with the past. -- Leeore Schnairsohn * Los Angeles Review of Books *
The Man Who Couldn’t Die, lucidly translated by Marian Schwartz, will resound with American readers. Bristling with voter fraud, fake news, and the cozy top-and-tail of media moguls and politicians, Slavnikova’s book is fluent in new language of the damaged reality principle. -- Olivia Parkes * The Baffler *
The Man Who Couldn’t Die is a Gogolian portrait of the Kharitonovs, a Moscow family who 'had not been handed any party favors at capitalism’s kiddie party' after the fall of the Soviet Union. -- Natasha Randall * Times Literary Supplement *
The Man Who Couldn’t Die is an overlooked masterpiece of post-Soviet prose by one of contemporary Russia’s most important authors. It reveals how Slavnikova’s descriptions (and Schwartz’s English equivalent) belong alongside those of Vladimir Nabokov, Iurii Olesha, and Nikolai Gogol as truly revolutionary in Russian prose. -- Benjamin Sutcliffe, Miami University
The Man Who Couldn’t Die is a wonderful depiction of a society in flux, and of the people caught up in these waves of change. * Tony's Reading List *
Olga Slavnikova was born in 1957 in Sverdlovsk (now Ekaterinburg). She is the author of several award-winning novels, including 2017, which won the 2006 Russian Booker prize and was translated into English by Marian Schwartz (2010), and Long Jump, which won the 2018 Yasnaya Polyana Award.
Marian Schwartz translates Russian contemporary and classic fiction, including Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, and is the principal translator of Nina Berberova.
Marian Schwartz translates Russian contemporary and classic fiction, including Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, and is the principal translator of Nina Berberova.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780231185950 |
| ISBN 10 | 0231185952 |
| Title | The Man Who Couldn't Die |
| Author | Marian Schwartz |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Columbia University Press |
| Year published | 2019-01-29 |
| Number of pages | 248 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |