Experience Death And The Penguin Sketched By Andrey Kurkov Exhibited In Leaflet
satire isn't something I'd typically read, but it's good to broaden one's horizons, I think that this book must resonate more with those who lived in the postSoviet world, although the loneliness relieved only by a buddy named Sergey and a large, depressed penguin named Misha was really well written.
The humor was witty and dark, the story quirky, and you had to enjoy architecture called "Stalin baroque.
"
Our hero is a depressive sort who cannot get published for his short stories, but instead is hired to write preobituaries for
various hoi polloi just in case said notables should suddenly drop dead and the editor be left scrambling for a highquality write up of the deceaseds contributions to the world.
Our guy is charged with pondering who might require a flowery written sendoff but also might be at risk for departing for the hereafter.
Lets see, who is most likely to die and therefor get my work published: terribly disliked politicians.
. . elderly artists mob bosses. .
When he is writing these nonobituary obituaries, he tends to puff up the life of the predeceased.
Mobsters are given a little style and grace, maybe some kindnesses nobody knew about fiction, but hey he is a writer.
These writeups end up being really good, and wouldnt you know it The people he has chosen to memorialize suddenly all start ending up dead.
Toss in a new friend, a lonely penguin adopted from the zoo during their financial crisis, a kid, a gal, and quite a few funerals and you get humor.
But dark, nearly depressive humor, Its Ukrainian satire!
Someone drew my attention to this review today, and seeing that there is actually a sequel, I decided to update this and to also get my hands on the new penguin tale.
Bad pun Sad and almost funny That means Im ready!
So glad I read it! أظن أن هذه الرواية من الروايات التي يخرج القراء إزائها باستجابات مختلفة ومتعددة وربما متعارضة وأظن كذلك أنها من النوع الأدبي الذي ما زال باستطاعته أن يفعل سياسيا ويؤثر في مجتمعات تتجه أجهزتها الإعلامية إلى عزل الأدب عن الحياة وحصر قيمته فيما لا يتعدى كونه متعة شخصية مجرد ترف فني لا أكثر.
يصور الكاتب بلغة جميلة الفترة التي انهار فيها الاتحاد السوفيتي وتحرر أوكرانيا من ذلك الاتحاد الخانق تلك الفترة التي لا تبدو عليها كلمة تحرير تعني النصر بل كانت الكآبة والفساد خلفية دائمة لكل الأحداث والشخصيات لينعكس ذلك على أحداث الرواية حيث قام الكاتب بعرضها على نحو ذكي مستخدما التلميح لا تصريح. فكتور بطل الرواية يكتب قصص قصيرة لا تكسبه شهرة ولا مال يربي بطريق في بيته بعد محاولات فاشلة مع الصحف قدم إليه أحد رؤساء الجرائد المحلية وظيفة تشبه إلى حد ما كتابة القصص القصيرة لكنها ليست كذلك كانت الوظيفة عبارة عن كتابة نعي وهنا تكمن بداية الغرابة في القصة والنعي لدى الغربيين لا يشبه النعي لدينا فهو يشبه كتابة سي في للميت ديباجة طويلة من استعراض لحياة الميت وتاريخه والأكثر غرابة هو أن يكتب نعي لشخصيات هامة ما تزال على قيد الحياة. بدأ يثير إعجاب الصحيفة وباتت الظروف المادية تتحسن لكنه بعد ظروف غامضة يكتشف أن من يكتب لهم النعي تأتيهم المنية مباشرة يشبه إلى حد بعيد مسلسل الأنمي الشهير "دث نوت" ليكتشف بعد ذلك كم هو متورط في جرائم لا يعلم عنها شيء وانتمائه لعصابات قتل فيكتشف في النهاية أنه هو الضحية وأن أحدهم يقوم بدوره لكنه يكتب نعيا له !
عندما نشرت هذه الرواية في ألمانيا لقي الكاتب هناك هجوما عنيفا بسبب البطريق "ميشا" الذي رافق فكتور في معظم أحداث الرواية وكيف أن فكتور ترك البطريق ميشا دون معرفة القارئ عن مصيره حتى إن الكاتب قام مضطرا إلى كتابة جزء ثاني للرواية أعاد الضوء إلى البطريق الذي كان يمثل الجانب المدهش في بناء الشخصيات والأحداث معا ونقطة الصدمة في بلد لا يوجد في حدائقه بطاريق أصلا.
رواية تستحق القراءة وبداية موفقة للعام الجديد. در واقع ۴/۵
خب من خیلی خوشم اومد ازش. خوشمزه بود و خودش خودش رو ورق میزد
با اینکه الکترونیک خوندم اما هی دلم میخواست یه بخش دیگه بخونم.
حتی چون پریشب توی تاریکی درحال خوندنش بودم تا الان چشمدرد امانم رو بریده
داستان جالبی داشت و پنگوئن به عنوان یه حیوون خونگی واقعا یه تجربهی متفاوت بود برام.
و بهم یاد داد که وقتی نادانسته وارد یه کاری میشی و اینقدر بیخیال ادامه میدی و توجه نمیکنی اطرافت داره چی پیش میاد و ممکنه گریبانگیر تو باشه چه عاقبتی ممکنه برات رقم بخوره.
خیلی مهمه که آدم حواسش رو به اطرافش جمع کنه و فراتر نگاه کنه و فکر کنه که کارها و عملهاش چه چیزی در پی داره. اگر چیزی ازش میخوان علتش رو جویا بشه و چشم و گوش بسته زندگی نکنه.
مایهی خجالته که در بعضی موارد ویکتور رو مثل خودم مییافتم و خوندن این کتاب برای من زنگ خطر و هشدار و آموزشی بود.
اما آدمی اگر نیاز به شغلی داشته باشد و آن شغل مهیا باشد و تنها اندکی عجیب به نظر بیاید آن را رها میکند شاید نه!
من فکر میکنم گاهی حق با ویکتور بود و از یه جایی به بعد تنها حماقت بود و بس!
از اینها بگذریم پایان جالب بود, همان دیالوگ آخر! عجب چیزی بود! میخکوب کننده با پوزخندی بر لب!!
خوشمان آمد حسابی!! خوبیاش این بود که داستان چندان کارآگاهی حساب نمیشد. درگیریها و قتلها در حاشیهای اتفاق میافتاد که شخصیت اصلی نمیخواست خودش را بیشازحد درگیرشان کند. درونگرایی شخصیت و ترجیحاش به ماندن در خلوت خودش و سرگرم بودن با ماشین تحریرش روایت را متفاوت کرده بود. اما حس تنهایی عمیق پنگوئن که با ایستادنهای طولانیاش جلوی آینه یا حتی بدتر از آن رو به دیوار به تصویر کشیده شده بود و زمستان سرد اوکراین کاملا در اعماق وجودم رسوخ کرده و امیدوارم با کتاب بعدی ذوب و محو شود. Viktor Zolotaryov is an aspiring writer in the lates in Kiev,
His only friend is Misha a male penguin he rescued when the zoo could no longer afford to feed its animals.
Viktor is offered a job at a newspaper writing obelisks, obituaries of people who are still alive, but who mysteriously take ill and die only just after their obelisk is completed.
A friend of Viktor's, Mishanonpenguin, leaves his daughter Sonya with Viktor for a short time and gives Viktor a generous sum of money to pay for things.
Viktor wants a nanny so a friend suggests Nina his niece fulfill the role.
Gradually, Viktor, Misha, Sonya, and Nina become a sort of family,
A local gangster pays a generous amount for Misha and also Viktor to attend funerals of departed criminals.
This lucrative role is only curtailed when Misha contracts flu and it's determined at the hospital he needs a heart transplant.
How does it all end Well, I don't wish to spoil the enjoyment so please find out for yourself.
بهنوان کسی که هم حیوان خانگی داشته و هم مرگ دیده فکر میکردم با چیز عجیب تری مواجه بشم. البته این اشکال از منه که کتاب رو درک نکردم. شاید هم وقت بازنشسته شدنم رسیده. دیگه از هیچ چیز لذت نمیبرم حتی یک داستان با کمدی سیاه. بله این اشکال از منه. Viktor is an aspiring writer with only Misha, his pet penguin, for company, Although he would prefer to write short stories, he earns a living composing obituaries for a newspaper.
He longs to see his work published, yet the subjects of his obituaries continue to cling to life.
But when he opens the newspaper to see his work in print for the first time, his pride swiftly turns to terror.
He and Misha have been drawn into a trap from which there appears to be no escape PostSoviet Dystopia
the Melville International Crime paperback Junetranslated by sitelinkGeorge Bird from the original Russian language "Смерть постороннего" Death of an Outsider
Death and the Penguin is yet another case of a novel translated into English which sorely lacks the context of an Introduction or an Afterword.
This is such a regular failing of most modern translations that I've pretty much given up hope on seeing proper work done.
I am spoiled in this regard due to my regular reading of Estonian translations, especially those published by Loomingu Raamatukogu.
My best case example of this is the revelatory Afterword provided by translator Ruth Sepp for her sitelinkEstonian translation of Samanta Schweblin's Fever Dream orig.
.
Author Andrey Kurkov photographed with a penguin, Image sourced from sitelinkMelville House, The audio interview mentioned is no longer available,
Kurkov's Ukraine is set in the corrupt world of a postSoviet Union dystopia where everyone from the then sitelinkPresident Leonid Kuchmaon down was still running the country in a totalitarian manner in collusion with criminal gangs.
Kurkov sets his novel innot revealed until quite late in the book though, although it was first published in, so there is somewhat of a fantasy/surreal future world element to it.
In the novel, lonely writer Viktor adopts a penguin from the Kyiv Zoo when animals are given away to people who can afford to feed them.
He solves his blocked fiction writing problem by accepting a job as an obituary writer for a local newspaper.
He is writing the obits in advance for prominent public officials and businessmen so that the newspaper will have them on file.
The list of required obits are provided to him and he makes quite a success with them by providing various unorthodox flourishes to the writing.
Gradually Viktor creates somewhat of a family by making friends with a local militiaman Sergey, becoming the caregiver for a young girl Sonya and finding a girlfriend Nina.
It all starts to come undone though when he discovers that his prewritten obits form a predetermined hitlist for one of the criminal factions in the country.
This postIndependent Ukraine situation was already somewhat far removed in the postsitelinkOrange Revolutionyears inwhen the novel was published in English.
With the addition of the sitelinkEuromaidan Uprisingwe have now come to a world where the present day Ukraine is even further removed from its years of Soviet corruption and Russian totalitarianism amp domination, making for more needed research by the reader in place of the failings of the publisher.
With the recent RussiaUkraine War, I decided to increase my reading of Ukrainian authors.
I chose Andrey Kurkov's Death and the Penguin simply on the basis of Kurkov being one of the authors in an sitelinkonline fundraiser for ambulance supplies in the Ukraine and that this book was also fairly high on GR's listopia of sitelinkUkrainian Literature.
It was also the first title listed that was translated into English, It was interesting to see that Mikhail Bulgakov most famous for sitelinkThe Master and Margarita orig.
/published posthumously, who is normally thought of as a Russian writer, was also on that list since he was born in Kyiv, Ukraine in.
Trivia and Link
Death and the Penguin was followed by a sequel sitelinkPenguin Lost Translationtranslated from the Russian language original Закон улитки Snail Law.
.