Zoo, or Letters Not about Love
Author: Viktor Shklovsky
Publisher: Deep Vellum Publishing
Published: 2024-07-16
Total Pages: 143
ISBN-13: 1628975210
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWhile living in exile in Berlin, the formidable literary critic Viktor Shklovsky fell in love with Elsa Triolet. He fell into the habit of sending Elsa several letters a day, a situation she accepted under one condition: he was forbidden to write about love. Zoo, or Letters Not about Love is an epistolary novel born of this constraint, and although the brilliant and playful letters contained here cover everything from observations about contemporary German and Russian life to theories of art and literature, nonetheless every one of them is indirectly dedicated to the one topic they are all required to avoid: their author's own unrequited love.