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Loading... The Island of Crimea (1981)by Vasily Aksyonov
   Russian Literature (88) Books Read in 2023 (4,016) No current Talk conversations about this book.   ) Firewild | Jan 3, 2019 |  The book plays with the idea that the Crimea (here and island, not a peninsula) resisted the Bolsheviks in 1917, and has become an outpost of democracy for Russian people. There is an analogy to Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. The story follows the Crimean political elite, who identify themselves as Russians and are pushing for stronger ties, even reunification, with the USSR. Aksyonov uses this device to examine the interactions between the political forces at work in the USSR (and on his semi-fictional island), such as socialism, nationalism and capitalism. His focus is on Luchnikov, a powerful media magnate, pushing for stronger bonds with Moscow, as he confronts intrigues both at home, and in Moscow. The Island of Crimea is awash with Aksyonov's trademark satirical bite. The story borders on the absurd in many places, but still produces a fairly stern examination of the forces for political and social change in the USSR. There were perhaps an overabundance of pointless sex, and a few too many narrative threads for a relatively short book, but its main thrusts still hit home. Indeed the relative silliness of some of the book makes the emotional lows even more painful, as Aksyonov (mostly) successfully treads a fine line between farce and satire. It was a fairly unique take on 1970s Soviet socialism, and worth a read for that alone. Aksyonov is a writer who I have planned to read again for a long while, and The Island of Crimea certainly didn't disappoint. 1  GlebtheDancer | Jun 27, 2009 |
 This fantasy, verging at times on the techniques of science fiction, is done with wit and an even greater amount of Russian gusto. Its defect, not uncommon in the genre, is that the point is grasped too early, and that the jokes become with repetition a little on the heavy side. Gulliver is not only himself an ambiguous consciousness, but his travels surprise us constantly with new and ever more disquieting perspectives. Like his émigré colleagues Aksyonov is too singly concerned to thumb his nose at Soviet Russia and to laugh the modern world out of its follies.  ''THE ISLAND OF CRIMEA'' is a stunning performance, reading for much of its length like a bizarre yet joyous collaboration between Dostoyevsky and Thomas Pynchon. It is a profoundly political and contemporary statement but with none of the shrillness and compromise with literary quality we have almost come to expect from books of its kind. Mr. Aksyonov is brilliantly served by his translator, Michael Henry Heim, who leaves us with the startling image of a ''helicopter-speckled sky.'' The story veers every which way as this accomplished satirist plays with the mutual attractions and revulsions of a wide-open society that seems to be inviting chaos (there's more than a touch of the United States in Crimea) and a closed society that is engineered to quash every spontaneous impulse. Belongs to Publisher SeriesNotable Lists
"The Island of Crimea" - one of the most important books of Vasily Aksyonov, the author has made famous throughout the world - sensational dystopia, social and political satire, not an attempt to portray the Russian Communist influence. This is a book about Russia, we have lost that delivers the copyright an idea how the story would have developed if the Crimea remained independent isolated "Russian" state. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)891.73Literature Literature of other languages Literature of east Indo-European and Celtic languages Russian and East Slavic languages Russian fictionLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.11)
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