RWY

Well-known member
The other great Russia book is Second Hand Time by Svetlana Alexievich, a collection of oral history accounts of life before and after the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union. I learnt more about the country from that one book than I did when I studied History.
Second Hand Time is a truly excellent book, everyone should read it.
 

luka

Well-known member
not to be crass but often that's why people get interested in a particular foreign country isn't it.
 

luka

Well-known member


 

IdleRich

IdleRich
A good recent novel about modern Russia is Keith Gessen’s A Terrible Country about an emigre who returns. Based on his own experiences, he spends some time with various political groups. Here’s a New Yorker interview he did with his brother https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www....-and-keith-gessen-on-writing-about-russia/amp
The other great Russia book is Second Hand Time by Svetlana Alexievich, a collection of oral history accounts of life before and after the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union. I learnt more about the country from that one book than I did when I studied History.
If you want to understand Russia in the 21st then truly THE only book is Deep Inside Russia (sometimes translated as In The Heart of Russia) by Sorokin. I recommend you all check it out immediately.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Thanks. I will.
That was not a recommendation made entirely in good faith I'm afraid. The 'bad boy' author travelled round the country fucking farm animals... the book is the photographic record of his adventures. I was hoping to entrap someone else with that bait.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I guess that Sorokin and Pelevin are the two kinda big name contemporary Russian authors. I get the impression that Sorokin generally sets out to shock (leading to an almost inevitable conclusion with the bestiality book) but I've never read him... Pelevin I have read some but found him too didactic. Maybe it was the translation I dunno (though I believe he works very closely with translators so it oughtn't to be the issue).
However, not long ago I watched a film adapted from his book Generation P and that WAS brilliant.
I mentioned it in the recommended films thread but no-one took any notice, but it's really one of the most ever Dissensus films... hypercapitalism in the form of advertising and gangsters, intermingled with psychedelics and pagan rites. You would love it @luka... I must read the book in fact.
Genuine recommendation there to make up for the joke. Sorry.
 
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