A Ring in a Case

by Yuz Aleshkovsky, Jane Ann Miller (Translator)

Overview

Set in post-Gorbachev Moscow, A Ring in a Case is the first novel to explore the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of Russia after perestroika. Helium Revolverovich Serious, a specialist in scientific atheism, begins to doubt his lack of belief in God when he becomes plagued by demons. His meditations reflect the philosophical questions posed throughout Russian literature and illuminate the collapse of Russian society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780810111387
Publisher:	Northwestern University Press
Publication date:	06/01/1995
Series:	Contemporary South Asia; 1
Edition description:	1
Pages:	249
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.25(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Yuz Aleshkovsky was born in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, in 1929. He became a writer only after serving in the armed froces and spending several years in a labor camp. His first books were for children, and later he wrote film and televisino scripts. He was best known in Russia, however, for his irreverent samizdat song lyrics, and his reptuation in the West rests on such equally impudent novels as Kangaroo (1986) and The Hand (1989). Aleshkovsky emigrated from the U.S.S.R. in 1979 and lives with his family in Connecticut.

Jane Ann Miller is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Russian at Dartmouth College. She has translated works by Joseph Brodsky, Vladislav Khodasevich, and Lyudmilla Petrushevskaya and has published widely on Russian literature.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Jane Ann Miller
A Ring in a Case

Editorial Reviews

"The stunning impact of a Candide, a Schweik, a 1984... Aleshkovsky's special power is that he has a devastating sense of humor. With corrosive, sometimes brutal satire, he illuminates the central fact about relations between the people and the regime in Soviet society today." —Flora Lewis, The New York Times 

From the Publisher

Set in post-Gorbachev Moscow, this novel explores the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of Russia after perestroika through the character of Helium Revolverovich Serious, a specialist in scientific atheism, who begins to doubt his disbelief in God when he finds himself plagued by demons. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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