A Certain Finkelmeyer

by Felix Roziner, Michael Henry Heim (Translator)

Overview

Aaron-Chaim Mendelevich Finkelmeyer is a Jew and a poet who works for the Ministries of Fisheries in Siberia. Because of his heritage, the only way he can get his work published is to "discover" the oral literature of an obscure minority population, the Tongors, which he publishes under the guise of a translation. This comic masquerade turns serious when his work gets the attention of the KGB, and when a Siberian hunter, the owner of the name Finkelmeyer uses as a pseudonym, appears to take his revenge.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780810112636
Publisher:	Northwestern University Press
Publication date:	06/01/1995
Edition description:	1
Pages:	362
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Felix Roziner was born in Russia and emigrated to Israel in 1978. In addition to fiction, he has published poetry, screenplays, books on art history, and music criticism.

Michael Henry Heim (1943-2012) was a Professor of Slavic Languages, at the University California at Los Angeles (UCLA). He received his doctorate at Harvard in 1971. He is an active and prolific translator, and is fluent in Czech, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Serbo-Croatian.

Editorial Reviews

"Excellent characterization, fluid prose and taut, dramatic pacing lead to a shattering denouement . . . [Roziner] should earn a wide audience with this powerful, poignant tale." —Publishers Weekly



"The narrative tone tends toward the soulful and whimsical in its depiction of this resourceful Jewish personality, who at each stage of his life wrested enjoyment, passionate love, deep friendship, and creative delight from his imposed marginality." —World Literature Today



"This book is one of the best manifestations of the Soviet Jewish intellectual's psyche. All items depicted on these pages are highly tangible, all notions strike the Western reader with a heavy surrealistic Soviet cudgel." 

—Vassily Aksyonov

From the Publisher

Soviet emigre Roziner's compelling novel presents a complex view of Russian society, culture and politics under Stalin. Poet Aaron-Chaim Mendelevich Finkelmeyer, who works for the Ministry of Fishes in Siberia, is unable to publish his work because it does not boast of the greatness of the Soviet State. Pretending to have discovered the literature of a little-known ethnic minority, the Tongors, he ``translates'' the poems, which are really his own work, for publication in a magazine. But bureaucrat Leonid Pavlovich Nicolsky recognizes the writing as Finkelmeyer's own and draws the poet into a circle of writers, artists and intellectuals who meet in secret to discuss the exigencies of their art. The underground group is soon hounded by a government that suspects its most talented creative citizens of having committed crimes against the State, including the detestable ``parasitism'' of which Finkelmeyer is accused. Excellent characterization, fluid prose and taut, dramatic pacing lead to a shattering denouement. This classic view of a dissident's life, once circulated through the samizdat, is soon to be published in the Soviet Union. Roziner, whose previous books of fiction, criticism and history have not appeared here, should earn a wide audience with this powerful, poignant tale. (May)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This highly original novel by a Soviet author residing here portrays the life and loves of Aaron Finkelmeyer, an introspective Jewish poet. Rejected for admission to his chosen university because of his religion, Finkelmeyer finds himself drafted into the Red Army, which he survives by writing hackneyed patriotic verse. After his discharge, Finkelmeyer is able to publish his own work only by perpetrating a literary hoax--he poses as the ``translator'' of the oral literature of an ethnic minority group from Siberia. Eventually, he finds himself tried for ``social parasitism,'' much like the poet Joseph Brodsky. This entertaining yet tragicomic novel, which details the tribulations of being an artist in modern society, should be read by anyone concerned with artistic freedom. It will be published simultaneously in the Soviet Union. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries with serious fiction collections.-- Amy Lewontin, Bentley Coll., Waltham, Mass.

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