“I’m not on good terms with the present day, ” Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky once mused, “but posterity loves me.” Virtually unknown during his lifetime and unpublishable under Stalin, he now draws comparisons to Beckett, Borges, Gogol, and Swift. This book presents three tales that encapsulate Krzhizhanovsky’s gift for creating philosophical, satirical, and lyrical phantasmagorias.
“Stravaging ‘Strange’” details the darkly comic adventures of an apprentice magus: lovesick, he imbibes a magic tincture to reduce himself to the size of a dust mote, the better to observe the young lady in question. He stumbles across a talkative king of hearts, a gallant flea, a coven of vindictive house imps, and his romantic rival along the way to a cinematic dénouement. “Catastrophe” wryly parodies Kant’s philosophy: an old sage decides to extract the essence from all things and beings in a ruthless attempt to understand reality—and chaos ensues. “Material for a Life of Gorgis Katafalaki, ” set in Berlin, Paris, London, and Moscow, recounts the absurd trials of an otherworldly outsider of uncertain nationality and unfixed profession with boundless curiosity but scant means.
This book also includes excerpts from Krzhizhanovsky’s notebooks—aphoristic glimpses of his worldview, moods, humor, and writing methods—and reminiscences of Krzhizhanovsky by his lifelong companion, Anna Bovshek, beginning with their first meeting in Kiev in 1920 and ending with his death in Moscow in 1950.
Table of Content
Introduction, by Caryl Emerson
Stravaging “Strange”
Catastrophe
Material for a Life of Gorgis Katafalaki
Krzhizhanovsky’s Notebooks and Loose-Leaf Notes
Afterword
Notes
About the author
Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky (1887–1950) was born in Kiev and moved to Moscow in 1922, where he became known in literary circles thanks to the readings he gave of his modernist texts. Krzhizhanovsky’s creative vision ran counter to the dictates of Soviet censorship. Not until four decades after his death could his works begin to be published. His works in English translation include Countries That Don’t Exist: Selected Nonfiction (Columbia, 2022).Joanne Turnbull’s translations of Krzhizhanovsky’s fiction include Memories of the Future, Autobiography of a Corpse, and The Return of Munchausen.Caryl Emerson is A. Watson Armour III University Professor Emeritus of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Princeton University and the author of many books, including The Cambridge Introduction to Russian Literature.
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