Russian migr short stories from Bunin to Yanovsky - Bryan Karetnyk

SHORTLISTED FOR THE READ RUSSIA PRIZE 2018
LONGLISTED FOR THE GLOBAL READ RUSSIA PRIZE 2018

Fleeing Russia amid the chaos of the 1917 revolution and subsequent
Civil War, many writers went on to settle in Paris, Berlin and
elsewhere. In exile, they worked as taxi drivers, labourers and film
extras, and wrote some of the most brilliant and imaginative works of
Russian literature.

This new collection includes stories by the most
famous migr writers, Vladimir Nabokov and Ivan Bunin, and introduces
powerful lesser known voices, some of whom have never been available in
English before.

Here is Yuri Felsen's
evocative,
impressionistic account of a night of debauchery in Paris;
Teffi's
witty and timely reflections on refugee experience; and Mark Aldanov's
sparkling story of an elderly astrologer who unexpectedly finds himself
in Hitler's bunker in Berlin. Exploring displacement, loss and new
beginnings, their short stories vividly evoke the experience of life in
exile and also return obsessively to the Russia that has been left
behind - whether as a beautiful dream or terrifying nightmare. By turns
experimental, funny, exciting, poignant and haunting, these works reveal
the full range of migr writing and are presented here in masterly
translations by Bryan Karetnyk and others.