Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

by Peter Aleshkovsky, Петр Алешковский, Nina Shevchuk-Murray (Translator)

Stargorod is a metaphorical provincial city in Russia. It is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.

Peter Aleshkovsky's writing is vivid and descriptive. His rich, character-driven stories are deeply representative of their time and place. In Stargorod, he shows why he is one of modern Russia's most beloved realistic writers, and why he has been thrice nominated for Russia's most prestigious literary prize.

332 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Pyotr Markovich Aleshkovsky (Russian: Пётр Ма́ркович Алешко́вский; born 22 September 1957) is a Russian writer, historian, broadcaster, television presenter, journalist and archaeologist.

Peter Aleshkovsky was born on 22 September 1957 to historian Mark Khaimovich Aleshkovsky and Natalia Germanovna Nedoshivina in Moscow. Russian bard and writer Yuz Aleshkovsky is his uncle. Aleskhovsky is the husband of Tamara Eidelman, a son-in-law to Natan Eidelman, and he is the father of photographer Dmitry Aleshkovsky. He graduated with a degree in history from the Moscow State University in 1979.

Working with "Союзреставрация" (Soyuzrestaurations) from 1979 to 1985, he restored several monasteries in northern Russian regions, among them Novgorod, Kirillo-Belozersky, Ferapontov and Solovetsky. He began writing stories since 1989 in the journal Wolga, then switching to numerous other magazines, among them The Youth, October and The Capital. From 2000 to 2002 he worked at the literary magazine Book's Revue, and hosted the TV show with the same name on Rossiya. From 2007 to 2008 he maintained a weekly column in the journal The Russian Reporter. In 2008 he also wrote essays there. He hosted the television show Alphabet of Reading on Culture. Themes and style of his literary works are individual, ranging from Gothic and realistic stories, fairy tales and historical narrations, often with a touch of humour. "His works are richly descriptive and evocative of the uniquely Russian worldview, while at the same time tapping into universal human emotions and experiences".

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fictional town of Stargorod – literally Old Town – is a brainchild of Nikolai Leskov. The picturesque scenes of his romantic chronicle The Cathedral Clergy are taking place in this patriarchal town… Peter Aleshkovsky continues the chronicle with the scenes, or rather grotesque myths, taking place in the modern days and the Soviet times…

Our city’s historic waterfront spent the Soviet years slowly dying. The buildings – an old hotel and nearby merchant villas – looked like the moth-beaten eighteenth century kaftans on rickety mannequins in the local museum. The once-proud street was unsightly, as though it had been recently bombed by the Germans and was good for nothing except maybe making movies about partisans.

Peter Aleshkovsky manages to keep Leskov’s colourful style masterfully adding to it Gogol’s diabolism and mystical aura…

All kinds of wondrous things happen in Stargorod. The actress Katya Kholodtsova, for instance, because of unrequited love drowned herself in one of Stargorod’s channels and turned into a mermaid. Afterwards, many people saw her bathing there in the moonlight, and I am inclined to believe them.

New century – new order… Modern era – modern trends… Times change bringing new-fangled ways… Even the methods of exorcism are radically altered…

The sight of him was terrifying: he stood short, disheveled, with his tie askew and his eyes burning like hot embers, arms spread wide. Nozdrevatykh tried to crawl, but his legs would not obey him. One way or another, groaning and creaking, he circled the table three times.
“You didn’t get it? Well, this’ll be the end of me, but you won’t live either!” and with these words, the Ukrainian exorcist whipped out a small firefighter’s axe from behind his back and charged at his jinxed comrade. The battle-tested general howled like a Chinook at lift-off, jumped to his feet and leapt out the window.

Corrupt and criminal functionaries, vulgar and unscrupulous nouveaux riches, avaricious and ruthless timeservers wield power while simple folk live as they lived for ages.

[James Dante · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the type of book I've wanted to read for a while, fiction about modern Russia that's written by an actual Russian. STARGOROD is 58 short stories all centered around one fictious small town. In the "1990" stories, the reader senses the Soviet malaise, the need to find joy whenever possible. The 2010 stories have more tension and any disappointment on the part of the characters is soften by their resilience and sense of hope. STARGOROD is mostly a series of short character studies. Though some of the stories felt anti-climatic, taken as a whole, there's a sense of time and place that's stronger than what you'll get from most novels.

[Anna Hancock · Rating 3 out of 5]

*muffled Russian applause*

[Cooper Renner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quit a little more than halfway through. Fairly entertaining, interesting sidelights of life in the very late years of the Soviet Union; but after a while I just didn't much care to push on.