The Slynx (New York Review Books Classics)

by Tatyana Tolstaya, Jamey Gambrell

book data

122 ratings, 3.84 average rating, 31 reviews (more data...)

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5		29%
4		41%
3		18%
2		2%
1		7%

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published

April 17th 2007 (first published 2000) by NYRB Classics

binding

Paperback, 288 pages

characters

Benedikt

isbn

1590171969 (isbn13: 9781590171967)

description

Two hundred years after civilization ended in an event known as the Blast, Benedikt isn't one to complain. He's got a job—transcribing old books and...more

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02/12/09

karen rated it:

bookshelves: books-about-books-about-books, dysto-teque

i have a long and troubled relationship with the russians. for years i didnt want to read them, because i felt that i wouldnt understand them with their troubled political history, their interchangeable names, their fucking ability to endure that is so intimidating and making-me-small-feeling. and then i read bulgakov. and i felt a little more confident.... then i got a little older and i thought... maybe im ready for some dostoevsky... and then i wondered what i had been so worried about, becau...more

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06/22/07

Jason Pettus rated it:

Read in June, 2007

(Full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

Ah, those Russian writers -- those crazy, drunken, angst-filled, delightful Russian writers! Mention the phrase "Russian literature" to most Americans, and you're likely to see the same mental images appear again and again; the dense books, the heavy symbolism, the perverse dark humor, and of course the national introspection, always the national introspection, as inherent a pa...more (Full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

Ah, those Russian writers -- those crazy, drunken, angst-filled, delightful Russian writers! Mention the phrase "Russian literature" to most Americans, and you're likely to see the same mental images appear again and again; the dense books, the heavy symbolism, the perverse dark humor, and of course the national introspection, always the national introspection, as inherent a part of Russian culture as monster-truck rallies are here in the US. And so it is with Tatyana Tolstaya's blackly funny The Slynx, which has quite the long history behind it: started in 1986 while Russia was still a Soviet state, not finished until 2000 under the equally absurdist Putin administration, now newly reprinted in English form by the publishing wing of the New York Review of Books, not to be confused of course with the 2003 hardback English edition by Houghton Mifflin, which is technically the version that was read for this review. Whew!

And indeed, if you're a fan of Russian literature, The Slynx is sure not to disappoint; after all, Tolstaya is no less than the great-grandniece of Leo Tolstoy himself, not to mention one of the most famous intellectuals in contemporary Russia right now because of her popular television interview show "The School for Scandal." Set 200 years in the future, the novel is basically a farce on modern politics masquerading as a dystopian science-fiction story, a tale in which a mysterious event from the past known only as "the Blast" has rendered the city of Moscow back into a peasant-village-like state, with most of its citizens having no recollection of a civilized past and no idea how to recreate such a thing even if they wanted. It's a world where people have literally forgotten how to make fire, yet have somehow retained all the red-tape of the old Soviet bureaucracy; a place where mice have become the national currency, a place where people stand in line for hours for no reason at all, to receive nothing at all, because "that's the way government works."

Throughout the novel we follow one of these "golubchiks" in detail, Benedikt the Decree Copying Man, whose job is to hand-copy the purloined works of their current leader (Fyodor Kuzmich Glorybe), who in typical style has re-named the city after himself, and lives in the crumbling remains of Red Square. And in fact as we follow the travails of our mentally challenged hero, we discover that a surprisingly large amount of 20th-century Russian life still remains in post-apocalyptic Moscow, only twisted now into black-comedy proportions, and with the people following these dictates through a combination of superstitious fear and just plain ignorance; how the KGB, for example, are now known as the "Saniturions," traveling the city in sleighs while wearing hooded red robes, confiscating forbidden books from average citizens with a weapon that's curiously sickle-like.

In fact, this is one of the most delightful things about The Slynx, is in all the ways modern Russia has been twisted and perverted in this future vision, and special credit needs to be given to translator Jamey Gambrell for the rich English wordplays on display: to cite just one example, how the "degenerates" of our modern times, those in a post-Soviet world who ignorantly long for the old Soviet days, have literally become their own species in the future known as "Degenerators," mostly beasts of burden who are in charge of pulling the sleighs of the upper class, but during their time off still stand around the stables smoking cigarettes and bitching about the good ol' days. The book is full of such sly jabs at contemporary Russian life -- of the old "moozeeums" that are now hated and feared by the general populace, of the genetic mutations each person has on display and are simply known as their "Consequence."

But then again...(less)

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08/25/07

Phillip rated it:

(review of isbn 0618124977)

bookshelves: 50-favorite-books, fiction

Read in January, 2005

Like Dostoevsky staring into the face of a post-apocalyptic future, The Slynx is a bawdy romp into the interior landscapes of a Russian post-nuclear future.

Part folk tale, part sci-fi yarn (not unlike Tarkovsky's Stalker, but cranked up on crystal meth) Tolstaya's language is as giddy as Gogol in Dead Souls and her universal themes are familiar to anyone that has rampaged Russian literature. The unique gift of this novel is really Tolstaya's sense of humor and her urgent prose.

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11/04/08

Rich rated it:

bookshelves: law-school

Read in April, 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

The Slynx is very entertaining and creative. Lots of standard post-apocalyptic themes were in this book. That was a little boring to read at first; mutations, mutant monsters, ivory-tower bad guys who controlled people's minds ("Freethinking..." so overdone), gross food, scavenging, stick warfare etc. Tolstaya wiped the civilized world's slate clean, just as so many other people have done, but thankfully put her own stamp on post-apocalysm. The emergence of likable characters (few char...more The Slynx is very entertaining and creative. Lots of standard post-apocalyptic themes were in this book. That was a little boring to read at first; mutations, mutant monsters, ivory-tower bad guys who controlled people's minds ("Freethinking..." so overdone), gross food, scavenging, stick warfare etc. Tolstaya wiped the civilized world's slate clean, just as so many other people have done, but thankfully put her own stamp on post-apocalysm. The emergence of likable characters (few characters even existed in the first half of the novel) made the story unpredictable and hilarious as it progressed. Her societal commentary and allegories were not overdone as the plot unfurled. I laughed out loud several times reading the second half of the book. The humor balanced out during the second half so that it was neither too over-the-top nor was it too close to reality. I appreciated her writing style because it was descriptive without being too wordy.

The problem with the first 130 pages or so: It was less a story and more a collection of satirized, formulaic, post-apocalyptic nightmares. Everything she talked about seemed to exist in stasis. There was not much of a plot to begin. There was not much character development. Characters often fit into archetypes that were just used to express how every character's life was deplorable. The main character's job was just used as a device to communicate governmental edicts and only later becomes part of the plot. I sometimes felt like I was reading a disgusting post-apocalyptic Muppets novel, but that might have been unfair to the Muppets because they have more going on in their lives and are more talented than the characters in this book.

The redundancy about mice-as-currency and mice-as-food was one of the most boring and irritating thing I've ever read. In a book this short, I really don't think that many mouse-as-food descriptions are necessary. The concept wasn't that scientifically viable to begin with. It took me a while to realize the main character was an idiot, because there weren't any schools, and that's why it took him so long to understand things that would have been obvious to educated people (that may say something about my own intelligence). Some of the dark humor jokes were too nerdy, like how things that would shock a civilized person were introduced as commonplace for those who live in her post-apocalyptic world.

Despite this criticism, the second half of the book is worth waiting for. I just felt like Tolstaya could have woven in the explanations of her world without the vacuum of character and plot development that was the first half.(less)

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12/07/07

Nate rated it:

bookshelves: some-favorite-novels

Read in December, 2007

"Give black rabbit meat a good soaking, bring it to a boil seven times, set it in the sun for a week or two, then steam it in the oven — and it won't kill you.

"That is, if you catch a female. Because the male, boiled or not, it doesn't matter. People didn't used to know this, they were hungry and they ate the males too. But now they know: if you eat the males you'll be stuck with a wheezing and a gurgling in your chest the rest of your life. Your legs will wither. Thick bla...more

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04/15/09

Liz rated it:

Read in April, 2009

This is such a strange and beautiful little book. I am a total sucker for distopian, postapocalyptic lit in general, but this is one of the most creative, funny, uniquely-voiced renderings of the frightning, dismal future I have ever come across.
Set in Russia after "The Blast" has destroyed human existance as we know it, "The Slynx" takes place in a world that is at once outrageously bizarre and primitave, and eerily recognizable. Citizens, or "golubchiks," ...more This is such a strange and beautiful little book. I am a total sucker for distopian, postapocalyptic lit in general, but this is one of the most creative, funny, uniquely-voiced renderings of the frightning, dismal future I have ever come across.
Set in Russia after "The Blast" has destroyed human existance as we know it, "The Slynx" takes place in a world that is at once outrageously bizarre and primitave, and eerily recognizable. Citizens, or "golubchiks," live in a semi-feudal society where they spend their days toiling for the megalomaniacal-yet-affable autocrat Fydor Kuzmich, Glorybe; caousing, theiving, and roughing each other up; and eating mouse stew seasoned with crushed worrums. Most everyone is born with "consequences" - deformities that run the gammut from additional appendages to faces covered in coxcombs to clawed feet. There are still a few oldeners around -- those who were born in the time before the blast and whose only consequence appears to be the inability to die from old age -- and they spend their days reminiscing about the old days of televised figure skating and fax machines, and complaining about the primitive, backward thinking golubchiks who surround them. The story mainly follows Benedikt, a bumbling and likeable young man who is employed as a scrivener. When Fydor Kuzmich, Glorybe, issues a decree or writes a new poem or story, it is Benedikt's job to copy it out into booklets that other golubchiks can purchase at the market by bartering with mice. Books, along with Freethinking, have been outlawed and distroyed since the nuclear holocaust, as they are believed to carry radiation that will infect the reader with dreaded illness. When Benedikt discovers that this is not the case, that many members of the upper classes possess secret libraries, and that Kuzmich's "writings" are actually the works of literary giants from the oldener times his world changes forever.
While I found the novel a bit plodding at times -- Tolstaya often seems cloyingly enchanted with her own ability to tweak and bend language in surprsing and clever directions -- the prose is mostly enchanting and the voice impressively fresh. Perhaps the most impressive feat of all here is Jamey Gambrell's brilliant translation which, in a text littered with words like "feelosophy" and "firelings," seems an utterly daunting exercise.
The most delicious aspect of the book to me, though, was its litarary playfulness (although I'll readily admit that there was a good deal that I missed thanks to my shoddy knowledge of classic Russian poetry and contemporary Russian fiction). The passage on how Benedikt organizes his father-in-law's library is a marvel of punning and delighting in the sounds of words. I also really admired the book's unexpected (though prehaps decidedly less so for a Russian audience and sensibility) take on the redemptive power of art. While in a Western distopia we expect the discovery of books to lead to salvation and a rekindling of culture and society, Tolstaya -- coming from a country where literature, art, and the communist regieme have such a complicated and tangled history -- problemitizes Benedikt's newfound passion for literature. In the world of "The Slynx" great writing can bring about change, but it not always change for the better and for every impulse to create and enjoy beauty there is an equal and opposite impulse toward greed and human darkness. (less)

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01/12/09

Michael rated it:

bookshelves: nyrb-classics, read-in-2009

Read in February, 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Published a mere 6 years ago, Tatyana Tolstaya's The Slynx has already been dubbed a `classic' by the New York Review of Books; perhaps with good reason since the book, a dystopian Russian fable depicting peasant life post nuclear blast, seems timeless in its political and social themes. Tolstaya, great grandniece of Leo Tolstoy and a frequent contributor to the NYRB, sets a darkly comic tone in this her first novel.

As the author paints vividly on a bleak canvas, what appears is a ho...more Published a mere 6 years ago, Tatyana Tolstaya's The Slynx has already been dubbed a `classic' by the New York Review of Books; perhaps with good reason since the book, a dystopian Russian fable depicting peasant life post nuclear blast, seems timeless in its political and social themes. Tolstaya, great grandniece of Leo Tolstoy and a frequent contributor to the NYRB, sets a darkly comic tone in this her first novel.

As the author paints vividly on a bleak canvas, what appears is a horrifying, reconstituted world. The main character, comrade (Golubchik) Benedikt works for Fyodor Kuzmich Glorybe, the head feudal lord ("The Greatest Murza"), as a scribe copying out classic literature and poetry, which Kuzmich claims as his own. On his free time, he catches mice for dinner and tries to meet women, preferably ones with few consequences. Because of the great "Blast" most citizens live with "consequences"; like Varvara "with one eye, not a hair on her head and coxcombs growing all over it".

The Golubchiks live in huts called "izbas" and dine on "worrums" as well as the ubiquitous mice, which are also used as tender. There are the Degenerators, half-human half-canine, who are enslaved and used to transport Golubchiks via troika. The Saniturions are a sort of KGB, sniffing out any hint of "freethinking". Then there are the "Oldeners": humans who have survived the great blast and are somehow now immune to natural death. Most Oldeners have been around for 200 years or more and feel great disdain for the Murzas.

The fearsome Slynx of the title lies outside the boundaries of Fyodor-Kuzmichsk (formerly Moscow). It's the fear of moving on, expanding, change, and discovering just what does exist at the nether regions of the "flat pancake of the earth"; the serpentine Slynx is the fear of knowledge and it devours all that dare trespass on its turf.

As Benedikt discovers and becomes obsessed with books, which are forbidden as sources of freethinking by the Murza, he leaves himself vulnerable to the rebellious machinations of his newly acquired father-in-law. Benedikt finds himself on a quest for the ultimate book, the book of the great White Bird, that will reveal to him the correct way to live his life. Here, the meat of Tolstaya's cautionary tale emulsifies like a big bowl of mouse stew. By the end of the novel she auspiciously delivers her final ironic caveat: Those who study history are doomed to repeat it (less)

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08/19/08

Jeremy rated it:

Read in September, 2008

Maybe it's just me, but I couldn't make it beyond 20 pages. Something lost in translation, or it isn't very good?

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01/01/09

Michael rated it:

bookshelves: reading-pool, russian-lit

Read in February, 2009

Gives you a new appreciation for mice.

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03/14/07

Alina added it

delicious russian language

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01/05/09

Troy rated it:

bookshelves: nyrb-books, read-in-2009

Read in March, 2009

This is a hilarious book; a dystopia beautifully written and filled with endless imagination. I don't even know what to say about it... I'm still digesting it. The writing is as fantastic, inventive and clever as the world that Tatyana Tolstaya contructs.

This dystopia happens after The Blast, which brought about a new Dark Age, filled with extreme ignorance, radiation poisoning that has mutated everything (poisonous black rabbits fly from tree to tree, kittens have trunks and finger...more This is a hilarious book; a dystopia beautifully written and filled with endless imagination. I don't even know what to say about it... I'm still digesting it. The writing is as fantastic, inventive and clever as the world that Tatyana Tolstaya contructs.

This dystopia happens after The Blast, which brought about a new Dark Age, filled with extreme ignorance, radiation poisoning that has mutated everything (poisonous black rabbits fly from tree to tree, kittens have trunks and fingers, and every human has a Consequence, which is typically some gross deformity). The world has been bombed back to the Stone Age: the wheel has just been "invented" by the Divine Leader, Fyodor Kusmich, Glorybe (and Fyodor Kusmich, Gloybe's first appearance in the book is a comedic gem). Mice form the basis of life; they are the staple food and double as money. Along with mice, worrums and rusht fill the majority of everyone's diet (and rusht sounds like a mutated potato (and it also makes a nice alcoholic drink)). The frozen muddy village were the book takes place was once called Moscow, but is now called Fyodor-Kusmich (Glorybe to Him).

The main character is an idiot named Benedikt who, like all good comedic characters, never really changes. He transcribes books, and eventually gets some book-learning and becomes obsessed - ridiculously so - with books, but he never actually learns anything.

The book is full of retarded gems, like the current version of "leap frog," which is climbing on top of the stove and diving on top of some random person, wrestler-style - and hey, if someone breaks a rib or loses an eye, it's even funnier. That said, this book is very Russian. I know almost all of the references and dark political and cultural jabs sailed over my head. I got some basic KGB references, and maybe spotted Stalin and the groups who want a return to an aristocracy, but most of it reminded me of reading Mad Magazine when I was a little kid - I loved the pictures and the stories and it always made me laugh, but I knew it was about adult things that I simply didn't understand.

I forgot how great literary or experimental sci-fi can be. It's perfect for farce, and a great vehicle for clever and biting literature (and it allows for a lot of formal experimentation). Anyway, if you like dark sci-fi, or funny dystopias, or good fantastic writing, this book is for you.(less)

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07/22/08

seisyll rated it:

Read in August, 2008

Watch out for this book The Slynx, it is incorrigible! You've never heard someone go on at such length on mice and how fire looks and the sorts of things girls can put in their hair... it is just like how life used to be when all you had to do was figure out whether or not to make a statue in your neighbor's yard. And is dill okay with you? Maybe if it sat in the pig's pen or if it was thrown out to live with the mice a little first!

If you like this book, then run out and go take ...more Watch out for this book The Slynx, it is incorrigible! You've never heard someone go on at such length on mice and how fire looks and the sorts of things girls can put in their hair... it is just like how life used to be when all you had to do was figure out whether or not to make a statue in your neighbor's yard. And is dill okay with you? Maybe if it sat in the pig's pen or if it was thrown out to live with the mice a little first!

If you like this book, then run out and go take hold of the film Kin-Dza-Dza to see the sister universe, in parallel to this. No, wait, don't run out, because it's not going to be out there, is it? Stay inside, quick, come back inside!

Now, it seems to me that this book is a huge, sly-handed homage to the absurd little pencilmen of Russia's past. It apes the old style AND weaves in stanzas from some of the greats and some of the regulars. However, it is also a post-apocalyptic adventure tale, in a way, (though that is far secondary,) and Tolstaya soaks things with a twist and sprinkle of modern citations. Such as this devious plan that Lev Lvovich has to copy all the great books using fax machines, proving to the West that he's holding all the books hostage, in the hopes that they will dispatch immediately some international contacts, coffee, ... anyway make it to page 210 and for crying out loud, get up to speed here.

As I just wrapped up an hour or two ago, I am certainly still thinking over this fine tale and its assorted subtexts. Maybe one of my initial biggest questions concerns the chapter letters. As I understand it, this is the Russian alphabet, in order, as it was written at the turn of the last century. However, in the book, it is mentioned in chapter Ы that the Golubchik alphabet is missing letters and is reorganized. Still, Benedikt is able to read everything he can get his greedy hands on. I've kind of been telling myself that the alphabet is a cue she's giving to a certain era in Russian literature. But I don't really know at all, oh despair!

The supporting characters is this book are superb. The Degenerators were just the right sort of annoying and abrasive lower class in the species, a legendary performance. And the lady with all the coxcombs: best use of coxcombs in a novel or compendium of any kind.

Okay, so, if you are still deciding whether or not to read this book, I can guarantee that you will know by page 70 or so. If you hit chapter "IZHE" and you're not satisfied, let it out of your hands. I don't think else anything will appease your senses beyond that point. However, if you are still into it, narrow your eyes and devour onwards! Sllyyyynnxxx!

(less)

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07/14/08

Jacob rated it:

bookshelves: 2009, dystopia-and-utopia, european-russian-et-cetera, nyrb, own

Read in February, 2009

You expect post-apocalyptic fiction to be depressing. You expect dystopias to be bleak. The words “wickedly funny” do not usually come to mind. But in The Slynx, a story of Moscow set two hundred years after The Blast destroyed civilization, life is not quite what it seems to be. The people don’t really deserve to be enlightened, and the thought police are almost justified; at least, books aren’t the thing to worry about. Just thank Fyodor Kuzmich, Glorybe, that you have fire. Oh, ...more

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05/04/09

Bob rated it:

Read in June, 2009

Had this sitting around for some time and moved it closer to the top of the to-read pile after its appearance on AbeBooks quite intriguing "20 Post-Apocalyptic Novels" list http://tinyurl.com/cctyoo

Fantastic! One of the best books I've read in weeks! Just barely fits into the "post-nuclear apocalypse dystopian" genre (as exemplified by Canticle for Leibowitz) - that's more like a convenient trope for constructing an allegory of Russian society and literary culture...more

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12/16/08

Jennifer rated it:

Read in January, 2009

one of those books you hope is really good (i mean she is the great grandniece of the tolstoys) but it ends up being terribly difficult to get through. still, it's fun-- if that's the right word for it. i'm still working my way through it. it's russian literature "fun."

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05/27/09

Jane added it

Interesting dystopian novel of Moscow 200 years after a nuclear blast.

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07/06/08

Molly rated it:

I read this book for my 21st Century Russia class this semester, in the culture segment. It is a post-apocalyptic story; very post modern. I really enjoyed it, but wouldn't have gotten as much out of it had I not had discussion with my professor (who is Russian). Some of the translations weren't quite accurate in meaning, and some of the cultural references went over my head. But I definitely enjoyed it.

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08/26/08

Kam rated it:

bookshelves: fun---and-smart

Read in September, 2008

recommended to Kam by: Book club

Good book, and I'm getting fussy these days. "Dystopia", but don't let that turn you off! Well-written and funny. Lots of imagination. She's the -- granddaughter I think it is? -- of Tolstoy.
After "the Blast", and what's left. Serious and humorous.
Pessimistic in the end, but a good and fun read.

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07/10/07

Jane rated it:

Read in February, 2009

This is the best thing I've read in ages. Hilarious and grim, clever as all get-out but with plenty of poo jokes. Meandered off a bit in places, but altogether a lovely little satire that is entirely worth the two or three days it might take you to read it.
Really, four and a half stars (it's no Infinite Jest)

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08/19/07

Angela rated it:

That book reveals a portrait of a nation cursed to have a tragic history but a remarkable, undistructible and astonishing literature..
This is a post-modernist masterpiece, in which Tolstaya reminds us of Gogol's "Death souls"..
The language is fabulous..and its meanings..sharp, ironic, "tearful"...

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"...a book is a delicate friend, a white bird, an exquisite being, afraid of water. Darling things! Afraid of water, of fire, They shiver in the wind. Clumsy, crude human fingers leave bruises on them that'll never fade! Never! Some people touch books without washing their hands! Some underline things in ink! Some even tear pages out! " More quotes...