Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0004195, Fri, 18 Jun 1999 09:16:33 -0700

Subject
kontrapunkt #3 (fwd)
Date
Body
EDITOR: This may be of interest to Russian Nabokovians on the list.
It certainly offers a strong line-up of writers. Note the English
translation after the Russian text.
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From: MV <editor@k-punkt.com>

Vzglyad iz Ameriki) poyavilsya na site www.k-punkt.com
V nomere novye nepublikovavshiesya proizvedeniya Andreya Bitova,
Milorada Pavicha, Viktora Pelevina, Borisa Strugatskogo, Genrikha
Sapgira, Veniamina Blazhennogo i drugih.

***
The third issue of Kontrapunkt Literary Magazine will be coming off the
presses in one week. We hope you will find it worthy of your attention
and enclude this short summary of its contents. More information is
available on
our web site: www.k-punkt.com

“Our Publications” column includes an interview by Thanassis Lallas with a
famous Serbian author Milorad Pavich as well as Pavich's new essay
"Epithaph to the XX Century" which was never published in Russian. By
choosing to publish the selection about and by Pavich, who has been
described as “the best-known writer of the most hated nation in the
world,” and as “the first writer of the 21st century” we state the opinion
of this journal on the Balkan situation.

Three pieces are combined under the rubric “Two centuries with Pushkin”.

Andrei Bitov reminisces about his friend and artist Rezo Gabriadze with
whom he collaborated on several books about Alexander Pushkin. A new play
by Bitov which appears here was created especially for Gabriadze Pupper
Theater. Andrei Chernov’s article “Progulki po Pushkinskomu Domu” (Through
Pushkin's Archives) talks about unprintable verses of Alexander Pushkin.
An article by Alla Gelikh “Tolstye i Pushkin” (Tolstoys and Pushkin)
weaves a tale about three members of Tolstoi family and their links with
Russia's genius poet.

In his new essay “Mesto Zimovki” (The Winter Sleep) the best known
Russian contemporary writer Victor Pelevin reflects on cultural and
linguistic idiomatic idiocyncrasies of life in Russia.

“Commentaries to the Past” – is the name of the documentary prose,
written by RussiaÂ’s most famous science fiction writer Boris Strugatsky.

In this issue readers will find a humorous story about the creation of one
of the most successful novels “Piknik na Obochine” (Picnic at a roadside)
and the biography of the Strugatsky brothers.

Three short stories by Genrikh Sapgir “Rimskie rasskazy” (Short stories
from Rome) share the impressions of a popular avant-guard writer after
his visit to Italy.

Vyazcheslav Leikin from St. Petersburg is known better as a founder of a
poetry school and a teacher of young talented poets than for his own
poetry. With this collections of verses “Postizhenie t’my” (Delving into
darkness) he is boldly entering into the upper echelons of modern
Russian poetry.

In spite of Veniamin Blazhenny's age, he is now around 80, fame arrived
only a few years ago upon the most recent publication of his work. His
first book of verses was published in 1990. Blazhenny was a student of
Boris Pasternak and is now one of the most respected representatives of
classical poetry style in Russian language.

Anatoly Golovkov’s short story “Vrata” (The Gates) is styled in a rare
genre of "black folklore" and acquaints us with morays and customs of
Russian police.

In addition to the above, this issue contains reviews of new books and
Russian cultural events.