| Vasily Aksenov is seriously alarmed. In “October” (No. 8), the glorious novelist published the article “Miracle or Eccentricity. About the fate of the novel." Fate, apparently, is sad: on the American book market, the good old novel is crowded out by works in the non-fiction genre and low-quality bestsellers, the penultimate novel by Aksenov himself, “The New Sweet Style,” was not successful, and the last novel, “Caesarean Glow,” was not at all rejected by the publishing concern Random House. I don’t at all want to act as a lawyer for Random House (an expressive portrait of this company is presented in Andre Shiffrin’s book “Is It Easy to Be a Publisher,” which I wrote about in detail a week ago - see “Vremya Novostei” of September 17), but also Aksenov’s complaints not particularly impressive. Of course, a writer is free to evaluate his own works, but to recognize “Caesarean Glow” (the novel was published in Russia about a year ago) as the “peak” of the work of the author of “Overstocked Barrels” and “Burn”, with all my love for Aksenov (more precisely, precisely in the power of this love) I just can’t. The same applies to the “New Sweet Style”. “This discourse must move towards the boundaries of poetry so that a fusion of genres arises, a text like a spell in which each line has its own note.” Firstly, no one owes anyone anything - that’s what art is for, to surprise us with unpredictability (the special freedom of the novel was discussed and discussed in the last century, perhaps to excess). Secondly, although Aksenov’s latest novels fit perfectly into his beautiful program, they did not become events not only in America, but also in Russia. And not only for the “reading masses”, but also for experts. (Well-wishers got off with sour-sweet reasoning. Which is understandable: old love does not rust.) Meanwhile, as soon as a novel appears on the literary horizon with an “uncommon expression on its face,” the critical guild is decisively excited. Let’s leave aside the frankly provocative plots swirling around Sorokin’s “Ice” and Prokhanov’s “Hexogen” - on the novel by Sergei Gandlevsky, which appeared at the beginning of the year.
Vasily Aksenov is seriously alarmed. In “October” (No. 8), the glorious novelist published the article “Miracle or Eccentricity. About the fate of the novel." Fate, apparently, is sad: on the American book market, the good old novel is crowded out by works in the non-fiction genre and low-quality bestsellers, the penultimate novel by Aksenov himself, “The New Sweet Style,” was not successful, and the last novel, “Caesarean Glow,” was not at all rejected by the publishing concern Random House. I don’t at all want to act as a lawyer for Random House (an expressive portrait of this company is presented in Andre Shiffrin’s book “Is It Easy to Be a Publisher,” which I wrote about in detail a week ago - see “Vremya Novostei” of September 17), but also Aksenov’s complaints not particularly impressive. Of course, a writer is free to evaluate his own works, but to recognize “Caesarean Glow” (the novel was published in Russia about a year ago) as the “peak” of the work of the author of “Overstocked Barrels” and “Burn”, with all my love for Aksenov (more precisely, precisely in the power of this love) I just can’t. The same applies to the “New Sweet Style”. “This discourse must move towards the boundaries of poetry so that a fusion of genres arises, a text like a spell in which each line has its own note.” Firstly, no one owes anyone anything - that’s what art is for, to surprise us with unpredictability (the special freedom of the novel was discussed and discussed in the last century, perhaps to excess). Secondly, although Aksenov’s latest novels fit perfectly into his beautiful program, they did not become events not only in America, but also in Russia. And not only for the “reading masses”, but also for experts. (Well-wishers got off with sour-sweet reasoning. Which is understandable: old love does not rust.) Meanwhile, as soon as a novel appears on the literary horizon with an “uncommon expression on its face,” the critical guild is decisively excited. Let’s leave aside the frankly provocative plots swirling around Sorokin’s “Ice” and Prokhanov’s “Hexogen” - on the novel by Sergei Gandlevsky, which appeared at the beginning of the year. Andrey NEMZER
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