21: Russian Short Prose from an Odd Century

RUSSIAN 
SHORT PROSE 
FROM AN 
ODD 
CENTURY

Cultural Syllabus
Series Editor:
Mark Lipovetsky (Columbia University)

BOSTON
2019
21
RUSSIAN 
SHORT PROSE 
FROM AN 
ODD 
CENTURY
Edited by 
Mark Lipovetsky

The publication of this book is supported by 
TRANSKRIPT: The Program for the Support of 
Translation of Russian Fiction, Poetry, and 
Non-fiction.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lipovetsky, M. N. (Mark Naumovich), editor, writer of introduction. 
Title: 21 : Russian short prose from the odd century / edited and with an 
   introduction by Mark Lipovetsky.
Other titles: Russian short prose from the odd century | Twenty one 
Description: Boston : Academic Studies Press, 2019. | Series: Cultural 
   syllabus 
Identifiers: LCCN 2019008808 (print) | LCCN 2019018911 (ebook) | ISBN 
   9781644690567 (ebook) | ISBN 9781644690550 (pbk.)
Subjects: LCSH: Russian prose literature--21st century. | LCGFT: Fiction. 
Classification: LCC PG3266 (ebook) | LCC PG3266 .A15 2019 (print) | DDC 
   891.73/010805--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019008808
Copyright © 2019 Academic Studies Press 
All rights reserved. 
ISBN 978-1-64469-061-1 (hardcover) 
ISBN 978-1-64469-056-7 (ebook) 
ISBN 978-1-64469-055-0 (paper) 
Book design by Lapiz Digital Services. 
Cover design by Ivan Grave.
Published by Academic Studies Press. 
1577 Beacon Street, Brookline, MA 02446 USA
press@academicstudiespress.com
www.academicstudiespress.com

Contents
Acknowledgements
ix
Introduction
xi
  1.  Nikolai Baitov
Solovyov’s Trick
1
Silentium 
7
(Translated by Maya Vinokour)
  2.  Evgeny Shklovsky
The Street 
15
(Translated by Jason Cieply)
  3.  Vladimir Sorokin
Smirnov 
23
(Translated by Maya Vinokour)
  4.  Nikolai Kononov
Evgenia’s Genius 
38
(Translated by Simon Schuchat)
  5.  Leonid Kostyukov
Verkhovsky and Son 
56
(Translated by Maya Vinokour)
  6.  Sergei Soloukh
A Search 
73
(Translated by Margarita Vaysman and Angus Balkham)
  7.  Margarita Khemlin
Shady Business 
94
(Translated by Maya Vinokour)
  8.  Elena Dolgopyat
The Victim 
103
(Translated by Jason Cieply)

Contents
vi
9. Kirill Kobrin
Amadeus
127
(Translated by Veronika Lakotová)
10. Pavel Pepperstein
Tongue
140
Translated by Bradley Gorski)
11. Aleksandr Ilichevsky
The Sparrow
157
(Translated by Bradley Gorski)
12. Stanislav Lvovsky
Roaming
166
(Translated by Bradley Gorski)
13. Valery Votrin
Alkonost
172
(Translated by Maya Vinokour)
14. Linor Goralik
A Little Stick
186
1:38 A.M.
188
No Such Thing
190
Come On, It’s Funny
191
The Foundling
192
We Can’t Even Imagine Heights Like That
192
Cyst
193
(Translated by Maya Vinokour)
15. Aleksey Tsvetkov Jr.
Priceart
195
(Translated by Sofya Khagi)
16. Lara Vapnyar
Salad Olivier
204
17. Polina Barskova
Reaper of Leaves
212
(Translated by Catherine Ciepiela)
18. Arkady Babchenko
Argun
226
(Translated by Nicholas Allen)

Contents
vii
19.  Denis Osokin
Ludo Logar, or Duck Throat
271
The New Shoes 
278
(Translated by Simon Schuchat)
20.  Maria Boteva
Where the Truth Is 
291
(Translated by Jason Cieply)
21.  Marianna Geide
Ivan Grigoriev 
300
(Translated by Simon Schuchat)
About the Authors
306

Acknowledgements
I am sincerely grateful to all of the authors who, without hesitation, generously granted us the rights to translate their brilliant pieces. My gratitude 
goes to Galina Dursthoff’s literary agency for the rights to translate and 
publish Vladimir Sorokin’s short story. I am extremely thankful to John 
O’Brien and Veronika Lakotová for the right to republish Kirill Kobrin’s 
“Amadeus” from his collection Eleven Prague Corpses (© Dalkey Archive 
Press, 2016); to Grove Atlantic Press and Nick Allen for the republication of 
Arkady Babchenko’s “Argun” from his One Soldier’s War (© Grove Atlantic 
Press, 2009); to Columbia University Press for Linor Goralik’s texts from 
her Found Life (2018); as well as to Pantheon Books for the republication 
of Lara Vapnyar’s “Salad Olivier” from her Broccoli and Other Tales of Food 
and Love (©Anchor Books, 2008).
This project could not have happened if not for the dedication and 
talents of Catherine Ciepiela, Jason Cieply, Bradley Gorski, Sofia Khagi, 
Simon Schuchat, Margarita Vaysman with Angus Balkham, and Maya 
Vinokour. Bradley Gorski, Simon Schuchat, and Eliot Borenstein skillfully 
editеd translations, reconciling them with the natural idioms of contemporary English. 
I am also grateful to Dimitry Kuz’min, Ilya Kukulin, Mikhail Pavlovets, 
Pavel Spivakovsky, and other friends who helped me with their advice on 
the selection of texts for this collection. 
Certainly, I am most indebted to Academic Studies Press—to its wonderful leader Igor Nemirovsky and to its staff members, former and current: 
Kira Nemirovsky, Ekaterina Yanduganova, Oleh Kotsyuba, and Matthew 
Charlton.
The texts included in this collection, first appeared in the following 
publications: 

Acknowledgements
x
Arkady Babchenko. “Argun,” in Novyi mir 9 (2006).
Nikolai Baitov. “Fokus Solovieva,” in N. Baitov. Zverʹ dyshit. Moscow: NLO, 
2014; “Silentum,” in N. Baitov. Dumai, chto govorish. Moscow: NLO, 
2011. 
Polina Barskova. “Listoder,” in Polina Barskova, Zhivye kartiny. 
St. Petersburg: Ivan Limbakh Press, 2014.
Mariia Boteva. “Gde Pravda,” in Oktiabrʹ 4 (2009).
Elena Dolgopiat. “Postrаdavshii,” in Novyi mir 10 (2015). 
Marianna Geide. “Ivan Grigoriev,” in Vavilon: Vestnik novoi literatury 9 
(2002); and Oktiabr’ 12 (2002). 
Linor Goralik. “A Little Stick,” “1:38 A.M.,” “No Such Thing, Come On,” It’s 
Funny, The Foundling,” “We Can’t Even Imagine Heights Like That,” 
“The Cyst,” in Linor Goralik, Found Life: Poems, Stories, Comics, a Play 
and an Interview, ed. by Ainsley Morse, Maria Vassileva, and Maya 
Vinokour. New York: Columbia University Press, 2018.
Aleksandr Ilichevsky. “Vorobei,” in Novyi mir 7 (2005). 
Margarita Khemlin. “Temnoe delo,” in Znamia 10 (2005).
Kirill Kobrin. “Amadeus.” Translated by Veronika Lakotová, in Kirill Kobrin, 
Eleven Prague Corpses. McLean, IL: Dalkey Archive Press, 2016. 
Nikolai Kononov. “Genii Evgenii,” in TextOnly 5 (April–June 2000).
Leonid Kostiukov. “Verkhovskii i syn,” in Druzhba narodov 3 (2000). 
Stanislav Lvovsky. “Rouming,” in Antologiia russkikh inorodnykh skazok. 
Ed. by Maks Frai. St. Petersburg: Amfora, 2003.
Denis Osokin. “Utinoe gorlo,” in Oktiabrʹ 10 (2013); “Novye botinki,” in 
Oktiabrʹ 9 (2005).
Pavel Peppershtein. “Iazyk,” in Pavel Peppershtein. Voennye rasskazy. 
Moscow: Ad Marginem, 2006.
Evgeny Shklovsky. “Ulitsa,” Novyi mir 8 (2011). 
Sergei Soloukh. “Obysk,” in Novyi mir 9 (2006).
Vladimir Sorokin. “Smirnov,” in Vladimir Sorokin. Monoklon. Moscow: 
Astrelʹ, 2010. 
Aleksey Tsvetkov Jr. “Tsenart,” in TextOnly 29 (2009).
Lara Vapnyar. “Salad Olivier,” from Lara Vapnyar, Broccoli and Other 
Tales of Food and Love © 2008 by Lara Vapnyar. Used by permission 
of Pantheon Books, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing 
Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Valery Votrin. “Alkonost,” in Zvezda Vostoka 6 (2000).