Dovlatov and Surroundings : : A Philological Novel / / Alexander Genis.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Academic Studies Press Complete eBook-Package 2023
• VerfasserIn: Genis, Alexander,
• MitwirkendeR: Lipovetsky, Mark,; Rojavin, Alexander,
• Place / Publishing House: Boston, MA : : Academic Studies Press, , [2023]; ©2023
• Year of Publication: 2023
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (222 p.)

Dovlatov and Surroundings is a literary ode by one of the most consequential late 20th-century Russian writers, Alexander Genis, to another: Sergei Dovlatov. Though the book’s focus is ostensibly the man himself, the text unfolds as a comprehensive look at the Soviet, post-Soviet, and American cultures that shaped him and which he shaped. Dovlatov and Surroundings constantly, but effortlessly shifts its focus from the intimate to the sweeping, as Genis’s reflections on his friendship with Dovlatov organically give way to recollections about diaspora life, which transition smoothly into analyses of language, culture, politics, and literature. Characterized by Genis as an obituary, this book makes plain the significance of Dovlatov to Russian literature and the nuances of the Soviet cultural heritage.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Foreword: Genis and Surroundings, or Twenty Years Later -- 1. The Last Soviet Generation -- 2. Laughter and Trepidation -- 3. The Poetics of Prison -- 4. Do You Like Fish? -- 5. The Metaphysics of Error -- 6. Cabbage Soup from Borjomi -- 7. Tere-Tere -- 8. Poetry and Truth -- 9. None of Us Are Lookers -- 10. An Empty Mirror -- 11. A Dotted Novel -- 12. All That Jazz -- 13. Pushkin -- 14. A Concert for an Accented Voice -- 15. Halfway to the Homeland -- 16. A Matryoshka with Genitals -- 17. The Unwilling Son of the Ether -- 18. Death and Other Concerns -- 19. Without Dovlatov -- 20. A Brief History of The New American -- 21. Dovlatov as an Editor -- 22. Dovlatov on the Screen -- 23. Dovlatov and Death -- About the Translator