Calligraphy Lesson: The Collected Stories, by Mikhail Shishkin
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Calligraphy Lesson: The Collected Stories, by Mikhail Shishkin
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"A welcome volume of stories from Russia’s finest contemporary fiction writer, Mikhail Shishkin, full of his typical fusing of mysticism and modernist experimentation." —Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal
The first English-language collection of short stories by Russia's greatest contemporary author, Mikhail Shishkin, the only author to win all three of Russia's most prestigious literary awards.
Often included in discussions of Nobel Prize contenders, Shishkin is a master prose writer in the breathtakingly beautiful style of the greatest Russian authors, known for complex, allusive novels about universal and emotional themes. Shishkin's stories read like modern versions of the eternal literature written by his greatest inspirations: Boris Pasternak, Ivan Bunin, Leo Tolstoy, and Mikhail Bulgakov.
Shishkin's short fiction is the perfect introduction to his breathtaking oeuvre, his stories touch on the same big themes as his novels, spanning discussions of love and loss, death and eternal life, emigration and exile.
Calligraphy Lesson spans Shishkin's entire writing career, including his first published story, the 1993 Debut Prize–winning "Calligraphy Lesson," and his most recent story "Nabokov's Inkblot," which was written for a dramatic adaptation performed in Zurich in 2013.
Mikhail Shishkin (b. 1961 in Moscow) is one of the most prominent names in contemporary Russian literature. A former interpreter for refugees in Switzerland, Shishkin divides his time between Moscow, Switzerland, and Germany.
Calligraphy Lesson: The Collected Stories, by Mikhail Shishkin - Amazon Sales Rank: #280332 in Books
- Published on: 2015-05-12
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.40" h x .70" w x 5.40" l,
- Binding: Paperback
- 180 pages
Calligraphy Lesson: The Collected Stories, by Mikhail Shishkin Review World Literature Today Editor's Pick: Summer Reads (2015)"Shishkin is virtuosic, his subjects move through others' stories in dizzying/awe-inspiring ways. Incredible!" — Maaza Mengiste, author of Beneath the Lion's Gaze"Though the stories in CALLIGRAPHY LESSON are steeped in Russian history and have a distinctly Russian tone, many of the philosophical quandaries they engage extend beyond language and borders — they are universal problems, and this translation boldly and successfully takes them on." — Caroline North, Dallas Observer"Shishkin is fantastically, magically talented." — Julie Hersh, Music & Literature"Compact, and at times riveting to read, this collection delivers a well-rounded portrait of Russian’s most acclaimed contemporary writer." — Lucy Renner Jones, Words Without Borders"An ideal introduction to Shishkin and his work." — Michael Orthofer, Complete Review"Nothing I read about [Shishkin], however, quite prepared me for the desperate urgency of CALLIGRAPHY LESSON, as if its lyricism were only a last match struck against the darkness. His prose breathes life – doesn’t breathe it, gasps it, aware of the perishability of words, of worlds dying in each instant, and us dying with them, as life is beaten out of us second by second." — Cynthia Haven, The Book Haven"Characters with great pathos navigate a distinctly post-Soviet bedlam . . . The collection consists of artfully constructed, empathetic tales of people living in the midst cyclonic time." — Jacob Kiernan, New Orleans Review"I highly recommend Calligraphy Lesson for the beautiful language, moving stories and the emotional characters." — The Book Binder's Daughter"Complex and allusive . . . juxtaposed with autobiographical – and at times overtly politicised – narratives . . . [the final story] takes us beyond fiction and into the realm of the philosophical essay . . . the collection stands at the nexus between Shishkin’s novelistic output and his increasingly outspoken forays into the political arena . . .In CALLIGRAPHY LESSON, he celebrates art’s – and, more specifically, language’s – capacity to elevate us to the time-annihilating plateau." — Leo Shtutin, Open Democracy"Shishkin’s life-affirming language posits transcendence." — Robert H. McCormick Jr., World Literature Today"Shishkin’s agile, inventive narration reveals his homeland anew, showing once again why he has become one of Russia’s most valued storytellers—and an important new author in the West." — Literalab"[A] skillful achievement of complex, stylistic prose to evoke poignant themes common to all people, including love, life, family, and death. [Shishkin's] particular style is impressionistic, which matches the characteristics of his dominating theme: language." — Daniel P. Haeusser, Reading 1000 Lives
About the Author Mikhail Shishkin is one of the most acclaimed contemporary Russian literary figures, and is the only author to win all three major Russian literary prizes (including the Russian Booker Prize). The Guardian said of Shishkin's writing: "richly textured and innovative. . . arguably Russia's greatest living novelist." Born in Moscow 1961, Shishkin studied English and German at Moscow State Pedagogical Institute. After graduation he worked as a street sweeper, road worker, journalist, school teacher, and translator. He debuted as a writer in 1993, when his short story "Calligraphy Lesson" was published in Znamya magazine, which went on to win him the Debut Prize. Since 1995 he has lived in Switzerland. Shishkin's books have been translated into more than ten languages. His prose is universally praised for style, and his novels and stories deal with universal themes like death, resurrection, and love. Shishkin has been compared to numerous great writers, including Anton Chekhov, Vladimir Nabokov and James Joyce. Shishkin carries on the tradition of the greatest Russian writers, and admits to their influence in his work, "Bunin taught me not to compromise, and to go on believing in myself. Chekhov passed on his sense of humanity – that there can’t be any wholly negative characters in your text. And from Tolstoy I learned not to be afraid of being naïve."Marian Schwartz began her career in literary translation in 1978 with her translation of Landmarks, a 1909 collection of essays on the Russian intelligentsia written by some of Russia’s most eminent philosophers of the day. In the three decades since then she has published over sixty volumes of fiction and nonfiction—biography, criticism, fine arts, and history. Schwartz studied Russian at Harvard University, Middlebury Russian School, and Leningrad State University and received a Master of Arts in Slavic Languages and Literatures from the University of Texas at Austin in 1975. Schwartz is perhaps best known for her prize-winning translations of works by Russian émigré writer Nina Berberova, including seven volumes of fiction (The Accompanist, The Tattered Cloak, Billancourt Tales, The Revolt, Cape of Storms, The Book of Happiness, and The Ladies from St. Petersburg) and one biography (Moura: The Dangerous Life of the Baroness Budberg, translated with Richard D. Sylvester). Schwartz's translation of Edvard Radzinsky’s The Last Tsar: The Life and Death of Nicholas II was on the New York Times’ bestseller list for sixteen weeks.Leo Shtutin is a final-year PhD student at Oxford, and a freelance translator with knowledge of several languages and experience of professional translating and interpreting, as well as work at the BBC.Mariya Bashkatova is a senior at Brown University studying Comparative Literature and Cognitive Neuroscience. At Brown, she writes for the school newspaper and is involved in the Aldus Journal of Translation. Mariya is an avid reader and enjoys translating Russian and French literature.Sylvia Maizell studied Russian Literature at the University of Chicago, in Moscow and in Saint Petersburg, and has taught Russian. For the past decade she has worked as a translator from Russian, including stories by Mikhail Shishkin, Vladimir Makanin, Andrei Gelasimov, Ludmila Petrushevskaya, and Dina Rubina. Her translations have appeared in The Kenyon Review, Best European Fiction 2011, Moscow Noir, Russian Love Stories (Middlebury Studies), Metamorphoses, Partisan Review, and Dance Chronicle: Studies in Dance and Related Arts.
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A celebration of language By Bacterialover This book from Deep Vellum Publishing marks the first collection of Mikhail Shishkin's stories in English. Shishkin is a highly-regarded writer in contemporary Russian literature, a winner of multiple literary prizes whose name comes up with the likes of Haruki Murakami and Krasznahorkai László for potential candidacy for the Nobel Prize in Literature.Shishkin's writing is typical of the literary genre in its skillful achievement of complex, stylistic prose to evoke poignant themes common to all people, including love, life, family, and death. His particular style is impressionistic, which matches the characteristics of his dominating theme: language. The translation required for bringing these stories to Anglophones who cannot read Russian is wonderfully fitting with the primary concern of Shishkin's prose. Through the narrators Shishkin argues that language is a barrier, something imperfect that can never express an exact truth. Twice he points to the story of the Tower of Babel as emblematic (the start of) the separations that language engenders.Yet Shishkin's stories explore this concept a bit more deeply, particularly in light of what language is able accomplish, despite its limitations through the art of prose, of the story. His debut 1993 story that gives the Calligraphy Lesson collection its name most strongly delves into this. In this story Shishkin considers words and their formation, whether through the process of basic writing, the art of calligraphy, or spoken and the power that they have to convey meaning both implicitly and explicitly. Moreover, he explores how language can be used to interpret complex human emotions and experience, such as the soul-numbing violence faced by the police investigator in the story.Language allows organization of fragments, it allows the impression of a truth to be conveyed through imperfect means through the interpretations it permits. In one brilliantly written courtroom scene in the title story characters consider one word in Russian and the meaning, the 'baggage', that each letter of that word brings along with it, how they resonate in sound and appearance when written. Earlier in the story, Shishkin alternates scenes describing the composition of calligraphic text with scenes that mirror points in aspects of human interactions. Thus language itself is a translation, a transformation of ideas.Aside from the repeated theme of language in general, Shishkin's stories are also firmly embedded within the historical context of Russian literary history. (Footnotes and one brief, but very informative afterward are provided by the translators to give some grounding to readers.) The most recent story from Shishkin, 2013's "Nabokov's inkblot" illustrates this condition most directly with a character-driven tale that features a man considering his present, the weight that we attach to memories of the past, of historical significance broad or personal, and how they may be viewed quite differently in the light of the present moment.The only limitation from the collection, from perhaps Shishkin's short fiction in general, is the question of where it has grown - or can grow. His mastery of themes shines here, and he follows that dictum of writing what one knows best. His stories all feature male protagonists that resemble their author, literary-inclined Russians, some of whom like the author spend time residing in Switzerland. Can he write more than this? Does he need to even, if this where he excels, where he has something to say. For immediate purposes such questions are somewhat moot. This particular collection is short enough that the thematic repetition doesn't try the reader, it is the perfect length for the stories to remain engaging. Additionally, stories vary in how far they extend the themes symbolically into the characters. For instance "The Blind Musician" considers language further within the realm of sight, with both the fallibility and unique abilities that blindness could offer."In a Boat Scratched on a Wall" on the other hand is less of a narrative, something closer to an essay.Books like this make me thankful for publishers of all kinds that support and facilitate translation of the world's literature into English for the US market. In this case it offers accessibility to a major figure who I would otherwise be ignorant. Deep Vellum Publishing is a Dallas-based nonprofit literary arts organization that specializes in getting translations to market. You can find out more about the organization, their books and their translators at their site. One translator of many of the stories in Calligraphy Lesson, Marion Schwartz, was just shortlisted for the 2015 Read Russia prize for her translation of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.Through 5th June 2015 you can enter to win a copy of the Calligraphy Lesson collection through Goodreads' Giveaway program.Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this from Deep Vellum Publishing via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review that originally appeared on www.Reading1000Lives.com
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Four Stars By stan nabrinsky worth reading , for sure
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