Books by Sorokin Vladimir Georgievich: a review of the best

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Sorokin's books are not accidentally considered outstanding works of Russian literature today. This is a well-known domestic writer who amazes critics with his findings, and shocks the public with provocative plot twists. In this article, we will talk about some of the most striking and notable works of the author.

Writer's biography

The first books of Sorokin were written back in the days of the Soviet Union, but they were published much later, since the pre-perestroika society was not ready for such revelations, and most of the works of the hero of our article simply could not pass the then-existing censorship.

The writer himself was born in the small village of Bykovo near Moscow in 1955. His parents moved frequently, so he changed schools.

Vladimir Georgievich Sorokin received his higher education at the Moscow Institute of the Oil and Gas Industry as a mechanical engineer, but did not go to work by profession. Instead, he wrote for a year to the magazine Smena, from where he was fired for refusing to join theKomsomol.

After that, he began to engage in graphics, conceptual art and painting. In total, he illustrated about fifty books. As a writer, he was formed among representatives of the metropolitan underground of the 50s.

First publications

The first works of Sorokin, which saw the light, were several stories published in 1985 in the French magazine "A - Ya". A little later, his novel The Queue appeared in the Parisian publishing house Syntax. It was Sorokin's first published book.

Considered a representative of postmodernism, he uses all sorts of literary techniques and styles in his works. In Soviet times, he was close to Soviet conceptualists, his individual stories were published in Mitin's Journal in samizdat.

The first official publication dates back to 1989. These were several stories by Sorokin published in the Rodnik magazine in Riga.

In Russia, the public learned about him after the release of the novel "Queue" in his homeland in 1992. His works began to get shortlisted for the most prestigious literary awards.

Public reaction

It is worth noting that many of Sorokin's books often provoked a very sharp reaction from the public. For example, the pro-Kremlin movement "Walking Together" staged a series of actions that were directed against the writer, even burning his books. He was sued, demanding that certain works be recognized as pornographic. But the servantsThemis did not find anything illegal in his books.

Currently, his books have been translated into 27 languages. In recent years, he returned to painting, creating two cycles: "Three Friends" and "New Anthropology". Now he lives in Berlin, often visits his native suburbs. He has a wife and two twin daughters.

Roman "Queue"

"The Queue" was Sorokin's first book, after which he gained popularity. In this novel, as in earlier stories, bold experiments with Russian prose are visible, as a result of which traditional plots and genres undergo a significant transformation.

The novel consists entirely of direct speech. The queue in this case is a metaphor for our entire human life. Critics believe that this book teaches us to make different efforts to achieve the goal than those that we make in ordinary life. In fact, the novel itself is an endless conversation of strangers who happened to be in the same queue. Each of their replicas is a bright touch to the portrait of an entire era, while often hanging in the air. It should be noted that the text contains obscene language.

Plays

The hero of our article became famous not only as a prose writer, but also as a playwright. Today Sorokin's plays are staged in domestic theaters, although this often ends in outright scandals.

His very first dramatic work was written in 1985, it was called "Dugout". He was followed"Russian grandmother", "Trust", "Dysmorphomania", "Schi", "Dumplings", "Happy New Year", "Capital", "Skid". The last one was written in 2009 and is dedicated to the memory of Moscow conceptual artist Dmitry Prigov, who died two years earlier.

Norma

According to readers, many were impressed by his debut novel, written back in 1979 and distributed in samizdat.

Sorokin's "Norma" takes place during the purges organized by Andropov. At the very beginning, KGB officers search the apartment of dissident Boris Gurev. It is believed that under it the author deduced himself. Several banned manuscripts are confiscated from him, including a text called "Norma". Sorokin describes how, in Lubyanka, a manuscript is passed up through the authorities until it ends up in the hands of a 13-year-old schoolboy.

The first part consists of 31 sketches about the life of ordinary Soviet workers. The second part of the novel tells about the life of one Soviet man - from birth to death. The third begins with a story about the landowner's son Anton, who returns to his native village, which has come to complete desolation.

The entire fourth part consists of 12 poems, each of which is dedicated to a specific month of the year. The fifth is in the epistolary style, the sixth consists of only 28 lines typed in capital letters. The seventh contains the speech of the accuser, who sets out at the trial the fate of a certainart historian, who was arrested in 1949. Part 8 features a production meeting in the editorial office of a magazine, while the speech of employees who discuss serious materials is constantly descending into chaos.

In the epilogue, a boy who has read the novel shows a grade of "4" to a KGB officer and leaves.

About the essence of the regime

The author wrote Vladimir Sorokin's novel "Marina's Thirtieth Love" between 1982 and 1984. It metaphorically demonstrates the changes that occur with the representatives of the bohemians who do not accept the existing totalitarian regime, but at the same time do not take any action, trying to fix something. The heroine of the novel, fixing herself on spiritual symbolism and a pseudo-patriotic spirit, becomes the text of Soviet editorials, literally. Thus, Sorokin makes it clear that she is turning into the very essence of the regime.

The action of this work takes place in 1983. At the center of the story is 30-year-old Marina Alekseeva, who teaches children music at the House of Culture of one of the capital's factories. In her youth, she dreamed of a career as a pianist, but her own destiny was cut short by a broken little finger.

Throughout the novel, the author pays special attention to the sexual past of the heroine, there are many explicit scenes in the text.

The Postmodern Manifesto

One of the most famous and discussed books by Vladimir Sorokin "Blue fat" was written in 1999.

The plot of this work is built around the substancewith a unique structure, which is called "blue fat". It is allegedly produced by clones of domestic classics. The action takes place in two time layers - in an alternative 1954, when Stalin is in Moscow, and Hitler is in the Reich. And also in the second half of the XXI century in the Russian capital of the future and Siberia.

It was because of this work that three years later Sorokin was accused of distributing pornography at the suggestion of the pro-Kremlin movement "Walking Together". The prosecutor's office even opened a criminal case. As a result of the examination, it was concluded that all controversial scenes are caused by the logic of the narrative and are of an artistic nature.

A novel of 50 chapters

"Telluria" Sorokin was released in 2013. It is a novel divided into 50 un titled chapters, which are only numbered in Roman numerals. The characters in the story rarely intersect with each other. The action takes place on the territory of Russia and Europe in the middle of the XXI century.

For example, in one of the episodes, homosexuals travel to the USSR, and the state itself stands for Stalin's Soviet Socialist Republic.

The work was considered one of the favorites of the "Big Book" award, but in the end lost out to "The Abode" by Zakhar Prilepin.

Sorokin's latest novel is called Manaraga, released in 2017. It is created in the style of a futuristic diary. Moreover, the day and month of the very first entry coincide with the day whenthe book is on sale.

Events, just like in the previous work, unfold in the middle of the 21st century. It is interesting that some post-historical realities and geographical concepts correspond to the world created in the novel "Telluria", and the fact that the author of the diary is a cook who prepares his dishes on the books of the best Russian authors.

According to critics, in this work Sorokin ridiculed mass and elite culture.