THEIR FOUR HEARTS & TELLURIA by Vladimir Sorokin + Translator Max Lawton
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- Опубліковано 1 лип 2024
- Like what I do? Feel free to buy me a coffee: ko-fi.com/leafbyleaf
New York Times article with Vladimir Sorokin & Max Lawton:
www.nytimes.com/2022/04/16/bo...
Will Self's piece in The New European:
www.theneweuropean.co.uk/foun...
"The Red Pyramid" (trans. Max Lawton)
www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
"Horse Soup" (trans. Max Lawton)
www.nplusonemag.com/issue-40/...
Their Four Hearts (trans. Max Lawton)
Get book - amzn.to/3nmorZx
Paperback, 204 pages
Original Title: Сердца Четырех
Published 2022 by Dalkey Archive Press (first published 1994)
ISBN: 9781628973969
Telluria (trans. Max Lawton)
Get book - amzn.to/3OPHkQa
Paperback, 336 pages
Published 2022 by NYRB Classics (first published 2013)
Original Title: Теллурия
ISBN: 9781681376332
The Queue (trans. Sally Laird)
Get book - amzn.to/3A7lhAr
Paperback, 263 pages
Published 2008 by New York Review of Books (first published 1984)
Original Title: Очередь
ISBN: 9781590172742
The Day of the Oprichnik (trans. Jamey Gambrell)
Get book - amzn.to/3u8peRO
Hardcover, 191 pages
Published 2011 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (first published 2006)
Original Title: День опричника
ISBN: 9780374134754
#leafbyleaf #bookreview #vladimirsorokin
I so loved when Max referred to Sorokin as "an artist" rather than "a writer"
Max is wonderful!
I was searching for sorokin's books and there I am! Chris, thank you very much for your priceless review! This one is the awesomest I' ever seen!
My pleasure! 😁
I will recommend Yevgeny Zamyatin's "We" which inspired your shirt and much more better than 1984, although both are masterpieces
Great stuff
Great video, thanks so much for covering Sorokin! I've read Day of the Oprichnik and was stunned right away. The Blizzard is great too and Their Four Hearts is a shocking, abstract work of writing that left me pondering for many days after I finished it. The Ice Trilogy is still waiting on my shelf to be read, Telluria is in the mail to me and I can't wait for it to arrive and dive into it. I'll be closely watching (+ buying) the translations of this artist coming out in the following years.
If you want to see two great libraries, Umberto Eco had both. He had a summer home filled with books. But his main house had wall-to-wall books as well. He also collected rare books. His library was over 60,000 books.
Oh, I'm very familiar with Eco. Love all of his work (my favorite is _Foucault's Pendulum_ ), and I've sought out every video of his libraries I can find. He was an incredible human!
I have so much respect for translators--thank you for this vid from Berlin--I am looking at new Russian authors (new to me) so this looks like one I will be adding...hopefully not too violent, as he states 🤫 Joyful Opacity 😊
I think The Four Hearts and Telluria are what I will look for first. Thanks again for bringing these intriguing authors and titles to light.
Sorokin is a special blend for sure. And there will be much more of his work coming out over the next few years from Dalkey and NYRB, in Max's translations. Happy reading!
(I am Russian, living in New York) I will be honest I have little interest in contemporary Russian writing. But I think I just understood why. Russian literature always touches on government and authoritarianism. When I read contemporary RU books, it leaves me sad and hopeless coming to understanding that the country can't be changed. Sadly the majority of Russians support the atrocities in Ukraine. And being Russian, I want to do something to explain to people in RU how wrong it all is, but I just get a blank stare back. So I think because it is such an open wound, it's hard for me personally to bring myself to read Russian literature at this time, and nothing against the writer personally. But I promise to read Sorokin at some point, maybe in a year or two) Best!
Totally understandable. For what it's worth, Vladimir Sorokin agrees with you. He has been in Berlin since the start of the aggression and has been very vocal in his condemnation of the atrocities. In the _NY Times_ he said that the war is Russia killing its own mother! Still, though--you're right--the books are very political and highlight the blind brutality of the country's history. I want to thank you, foremost, for your example of how to react in a civil manner. All best to you.
@@LeafbyLeaf 🤗
I wouldn't say MAJORITY of Russians. There are some who voice their disagreement with the government. And many are silent because they are too scared to speak up.
How many Americans supported the many other American agressions that killed far far far more people over the last 20 years. Invasions, by the way that were far far less substantiated than the invasion of Ukraine. The Iraq war was built on an out an out lie. We know that the Ukrainian invasion was not. When you get blank stares in return you might ask why? a very simple question of yourself for starters. Why is Zelensky a Billionaire? How is that possible? You might ask why "Ukrainians" in the east were terrified of factions sanctioned by their own government for a decade? You might ask about why you don't know about the most obvious US backed coup in history.(See Ray McGovern) War is horrible but when you are shocked that they look at you blankly perhaps your understanding of why this invasion happened is just as one sided (or more) as theirs is. How would you have reacted (hypothetically) as now a Russian American if the US was sanctioned (making your life harder) for invasions that were far more damaging in terms of human life. Almost all countries under sanctions react by strengthening their peoples sense of national resolve. Be Well.
@@KingMinosxxvi my advice to you: use your time on something more useful than writing YT comments that nobody will read
Hey Chris, if you haven't done so already, would you mind posting a video on Surrealism with your recommendations and favorite books? Thanks.
Great suggestion! For now, I recommend Pierre Reverdy.
Wonderful 🍁
(Even though it isn't War and Peace?) ;-P
@@LeafbyLeafI’m currently working on my own novel it’s called war and peace and patience
@@LeafbyLeaf just joking. War and peace is not actually my favourite Tolstoy but I am still excited for you to make a video but I’m thinking by that time I’ll probably have to do a reread (yikes, it’s long…)
I was able to find the copy of blue lard as a advance uncorretced proofs for free
Niiiiiiice! I've been reading it recently and it is truly unlike anything I've ever read!
Yeah, Invitation To A Beheading is a must-read. Time to get to know Sorokin, then.
This was a very interesting video, spasibo very much to both (and I don't know if it's only me but doesn't Max Lawton look like some aristocrat who could have lived in Russia one century and a half ago?)
I found that there are two Sorokin translations to Spanish from several years ago, but from what I heard about Lawton's translations, I'll probably look for his when I can. Have you considered reviewing Will Self? I always find it surprising that he is not widely read in the US. The Book of Dave is one of the smartest and funniest novels from the last years that I've read.
I definitely want to get Will Self on the channel--starting with my favorite, _The Umbrella_ . So many books to get to!
I study English but my English very bad so...
Я удивлен, что кого-то интересует Владимир Сорокин заграницей хотя это совершенно неудивительно, если учесть, что он пишет очень ярко и необычно, постоянно переосмысляя действительность в своих книгах.
Я читал некоторые его книги и мне особенно понравилась "Тридцатая любовь Марины", который пародирует советский "роман-перевоспитания" где лезбиянка-либералка становится примерной работницей завода
У меня есть вопрос. Как написан "День опричника"? В оригинале Сорокин использует старый вариант русского языка, он использует интонацию и порядок слов, которые использовались нашими предками несколько веков назад. Как это переведено на английский?
My Siberian husky's name is Vladimir 😊😊
After anyone in particular? :)
@@LeafbyLeaf I'll make the story short, there was a husky in our town who was kind of a legend, his name was Dmitry. And when I got a husky, I named him Vladimir just because it seemed like the second popular Russian name)
His short story A month in Dachau it is really disturbing, i didn't even finish it. You'll probably like.
Yikes! I'm sure that's going to be coming soon with the story collections of his that NYRB is putting out. Max Lawton can could confirm.
What’s the book that Max is holding? The one he said isn’t very good.
It's a Penguin edition of Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov (translated by David Magarshack.)
@@MaximTendu I quite liked Oblomov, people should definitely judge for themselves :)
@@whatchachattin that's for sure: I for one have finally read Midnight's Children this year and, although it's certainly impressive, i liked it much less than i thought- with all due respect to its author who's still lying in a hospital bed.
As for Oblomov, if Harold Bloom found it westerncanonworthy, it can't be that bad, can it? And yet, Nabokov called Goncharov "a stupefying bore". . . . Well, time for me to read it and see what i make of it.
@@MaximTendu Haven’t read it, but it’s always fun to see what Nabokov decided to be a contrarian about. Truly one of our great curmudgeons.
@@pufyshoes indeed: imagine sending one copy of your books to him and one to Tolstoy and then waiting for their blurbs . .
Character who tried to faux-moralistically blackmail all of us into ignorance deleted his comment? Anyway, great review. Don't ever get your self cornered by that kind of people.
Thanks so much for the affirmation, my friend. It's sad that so many people seem almost _trained_ to take one impulse-thought and extend it to condemn a whole group of people.
How about exploring some of Ukrainian authors and making a slight pause on supporting terrorist state‘s economy? Or is it just im-damn-possible?
How about not condemning an entire culture based on its government's corruption? How about, Sorokin is a dissident who agrees with you? How about listening to what I have to say before passing judgement? How about watching this video on a Ukrainian classic that I did back in May? ua-cam.com/video/OanUB6rjJ3c/v-deo.html