Perverzion (Writings From An Unbound Europe) - Hardcover

Andrukhovych, Yuri

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810119633 ISBN 13: 9780810119635

Publisher: Northwestern University Press, 2005

Synopsis

What was the fate of Stanislav Perfetsky--poet, provocateur, and hero of Ukrainian underground culture? Evidence points to suicide. But some whisper murder. Some suggest the grand Eastern European tradition of coerced suicide. It may even be related to the religious cult ceremony he happened upon in Munich . . . or that job as a dancer in a strip club for older women.

Or, then again, it may not.

Perverzion constructs Perfetsky's final days using a mishmash of relics, from official documents to recorded interviews to scraps of paper. Perfetsky, the personification of the Ukrainian artistic superman--he used his masterful musicianship in a collaboration with Elton John during the pop star's secret sojourn in Ukraine--is bound for Venice to participate in a seminar to save the world from absurdity. On the way he becomes a Ukrainian Orpheus descending into the decadence of the West, navigating through surrealistic adventures and no less surrealistic seminar topics as he charges head up (and pants down) toward his fate.

About this title

From the Back Cover

What happened to Stanislav Perfetsky-poet, provocateur, and hero of Ukrainian underground culture? Some claim suicide. Some whisper murder. Some credit the grand Eastern European tradition of coerced suicide. But no one is sure. It may have something to do with those suspicious apartments he visited in Vienna . . . or that job as a dancer in a strip club for older ladies.
Or it may not.
PerVerzion reconstructs Perfetsky's final days using a mishmash of relics, from official documents to recorded interviews to scraps of paper. Perfetsky, the personification of a Ukrainian artistic superman (for example, he plays countless musical instruments so well he has collaborated with Elton John during the star's secret sojourn in Ukraine), is bound for Venice to participate in a seminar. On the way he becomes a Ukrainian Orpheus, descending into the sophisticated decadence of the West, navigating through surrealistic adventures and no less surrealistic seminar topics as he charges head up (and pants down) toward his fate.
A work of sly, subversive humor and fantastic wordplay, PerVerzion is a look into the new Ukraine's post-Soviet literary culture by one of the country's foremost contemporary writers.

About the Author

Yuri Andrukhovych was born in 1960 in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine. He is the author of numerous short stories and three volumes of poetry, and currently co-edits the journal Thursday. His other books include Recreations.

Michael M. Naydan is a professor of Slavic languages and literatures at Penn State University. He is the coeditor of From Three Worlds: New Writing from Ukraine and translator of The Complete Early Poetry Collections of Pavlo Tychyna. With Slava I. Yastremski, he has translated Marina Tsvetaeva's After Russia and Igor Klekh's A Land the Size of Binoculars, also published by Northwestern University Press. 

About this edition

• Publisher: Northwestern University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0810119633
• ISBN 13: 9780810119635
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 344