Short satirical novel translated from Slovak about an autistic waste-paper collector who conforms to every authority or prejudice, regardless of the effect on those around him
Dubbed by his fellow Futurists the "King of Time," Velimir Khlebnikov (1885-1922) spent his entire brief life searching for a new poetic language to express his convictions about the rhythm of history, the correspondence between human behavior and the "language of the stars." The result was a vast body of poetry and prose that has been called hermetic, incomprehensible, even deranged. Of all this tragic generation of Russian poets (including Blok, Esenin, and Mayakovsky), Khlebnikov has been perhaps the most praised and the more censured. This first volume of the Collected Works, an edition sponsored by the Dia Art Foundation, will do much to establish the counterimage of Khlebnikov as an honest, serious writer. The 117 letters published here for the first time in English reveal an ebullient, humane, impractical, but deliberate working artist. We read of the continuing involvement with his family throughout his vagabond life (pleas to his smartest sister, Vera, to break out of the mold, pleas to his scholarly father not to condemn and to send a warm overcoat); the naive pleasure he took in being applauded by other artists; his insistence that a young girl's simple verses be included in one of the typically outrageous Futurist publications of the time; his jealous fury at the appearance in Moscow of the Italian Futurist Marinetti; a first draft of his famous zoo poem ("O Garden of Animals!"); his seriocomic but ultimately shattering efforts to be released from army service; his inexhaustibly courageous confrontation with his own disease and excruciating poverty; and always his deadly earnest attempt to make sense of numbers, language, suffering, politics, and the exigencies of publication. The theoretical writings presented here are even more important than the letters to an understanding of Khlebnikov's creative output. In the scientific articles written before 1910, we discern foreshadowings of major patterns of later poetic work. In the pan-Slavic proclamations of 1908-1914, we find explicit connections between cultural roots and linguistic ramifications. In the semantic excursuses beginning in 1915, we can see Khlebnikov's experiments with consonants, nouns, and definitions spelled out in accessible, if arid, form. The essays of 1916-1922 take us into the future of Planet Earth, visions of universal order and accomplishment that no longer seem so farfetched but indeed resonate for modern readers.
Afghanistan, 1975: Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to win the local kite-fighting tournament and his loyal friend Hassan promises to help him. But neither of the boys can foresee what will happen to Hassan that afternoon, an event that is to shatter their lives. After the Russians invade and the family is forced to flee to America, Amir realises that one day he must return to Afghanistan under Taliban rule to find the one thing that his new world cannot grant him: redemption.
The Sublimes, translated by award-winning Marian Schwartz, the novel that revolutionised Russian literature "Yuri Mamleyev's grim and crazy novel revolutionized Russian literature." - Le Monde "This book will change your perception of the human nature. This is literature in its boldest, art in its pure sense, - uncompromising and limitless." - Russian writer Grigory Ryzhakov Almost half a century ago, in 1966, a book was published unofficially via samizdat in the Soviet Russia. A book that both terrified and dazzled the literary establishment. This was Yuri Mamleev's novel, Shatuny, today published in English as The Sublimes. This comical and metaphysical novel is somewhere between Dostoyevski and A Clockwork Orange, full of philosophy, humour, esotericism and spiritualism. Over the years, the novel became a cult classic, and Russia produced Mamleev's literary followers like Vladimir Sorokin and Victor Pelevin who continued exploring the limits of mankind and the dark side of humanity. Only a few extracts were published in the West in the 80s and the critics were overwhelmed with its power. At the time it was suggested that mankind wasn't ready for such a book. In The Sublimes, Mamleyev's figures are mystics, absurd occultists, philosophical fanatics in search of immortality, of their own "eternal ego" and of the great Absolute. They sometimes seek evidential proof of the presence of God and the continuation of life in order to find an answer to the question: What will they meet with on the other side of death? Translated in many languages, The Sublimes is a masterpiece that creates the purest state of mind, a moralistic tale that can be compared to a contemporary Dante's Inferno. Professor James McConkey of Cornell University says of the work: "On the one hand, the novel may be read as reflecting modern hell: 'The earth has turned hell without anybody noticing it.' However, very deep down, this book offers, in fact, a religious vision, and its comedy is earnestly lethal. Yet, in view of its ironic estrangement and dynamic lure - another remainder of Dostoyevsky - Shatuny can be read as a sort of 'metaphysical detective story'." See more at: http://www.hauteculturebooks.com
The Handbook of Polish, Czech, and Slovak Holocaust Fiction aims to increase the visibility and show the versatility of works from East-Central European countries. It is the first encyclopedic work to bridge the gap between the literary production of countries that are considered to be main sites of the Holocaust and their recognition in international academic and public discourse. It contains over 100 entries offering not only facts about the content and motifs but also pointing out the characteristic fictional features of each work and its meaning for academic discourse and wider reception in the country of origin and abroad. The publication will appeal to the academic and broader public interested in the representation of the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, and World War II in literature and the arts. Besides prose, it also considers poetry and theatrical plays from 1943 through 2018. An introduction to the historical events and cultural developments in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Czech, and Slovak Republic, and their impact on the artistic output helps to contextualise the motif changes and fictional strategies that authors have been applying for decades. The publication is the result of long-term scholarly cooperation of specialists from four countries and several dozen academic centres.
This is one of Pasolini's least known books, it is one of his most important challenges to himself and to the world. The book pits assumed Western cultural supremacy against the battle for Africa's freedom and self-assertion. The Savage Father offers a deep analysis of the internal struggles between the coloniser and the colonised, as well as showing us the externalised conditioning to which both are prey.