- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: Serpent's Tail; Reissue edition (15 Oct 1993)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1852423064
- ISBN-13: 978-1852423063
- Product Dimensions: 20.6 x 13.6 x 1.9 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 239,438 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Review
"'Luminous fragments of the avant-garde' Times Literary Supplement 'A puzzlingly beautiful monument to a minor master' Booklist 'With remarkable precision and fluid language, the stories capture everyday tension in a land where an innocent knock on the door might mean entrapment in a bureaucratic maze or even death at the hands of the military' New York Times Book Review 'Just one tip: Don't read this book if you're normal - you won't like it. Honestly. If you drive a Volvo, watch Eastenders, listen to Jamie Cullum or shop at Debenhams, you'll be baffled by this book. You stick to John Grisham; you'll be safe with him' Amazon.co.uk customer review"
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
This collection of stories is composed of short miniatures, many of which the author called 'incidents.' By featuring so prominently in his writing sudden death, falling, accidents, chance violence, Kharms conveys more vividly than any other writer the precarious nature of life in Stalin's Russia. ?Luminous fragments of the avant-garde? TLS ?A puzzlingly beautiful monument to a minor master? Booklist ?With remarkable precision and fluid language, the stories capture everyday tension in a land where an innocent knock on the door might mean entrapment in a bureaucratic maze or even death at the hands of the military? New York Times Book Review
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Taken individually these short - some extremely short - stories may seem little short of childishly gruesome, trivial, and banal; you may, if unfamiliar with Daniil Kharms (and especially with the IDEA of Daniil Kharms which seems to count for more), wonder why he should possibly be so celebrated for, say, a tale of old women falling out of a window, and who abruptly ends his stories by claiming, for instance, that he's going to stop writing because he's lost his ink pot or has fallen off his chair. Yet you don't stop reading. It's this triviality, and this banality of his writing which draws you in, it's the casual simplicity of his narration which makes you want to read more, until you find you've devoured the whole book and only then realise the insidious effect these pieces have.
Kharms ought, however, to be read with a degree of knowledge of his life, for knowledge of the Stalinist Russia in which he lived (and died) lends an even eerier quality to the work; my only qualm with this volume is that there isn't a more of a biographical introduction. Neil Cornwell's end essay would have been more happily placed at the beginning of the book. Simon McBurney (presumably he of the Theatre de Complicite) writes more about Simon McBurney than he does about Daniil Kharms in his introduction in a style where he tries - too hard, I think - to imitate the pithy, gnomic style of the author but doesn't quite make it. Indeed, one gets the feeling that this introduction to the new edition has been hastily tacked on. (The proof reader - if there even was one - failed to notice that the author's name was misspelled "Danill" on the head of each page of the intro - not a good start, that.) However, it's fantastic that the book should be reprinted at all so it isn't really fair to quibble about such things.
Kharms ought, however, to be read with a degree of knowledge of his life, for knowledge of the Stalinist Russia in which he lived (and died) lends an even eerier quality to the work; my only qualm with this volume is that there isn't a more of a biographical introduction. Neil Cornwell's end essay would have been more happily placed at the beginning of the book. Simon McBurney (presumably he of the Theatre de Complicite) writes more about Simon McBurney than he does about Daniil Kharms in his introduction in a style where he tries - too hard, I think - to imitate the pithy, gnomic style of the author but doesn't quite make it. Indeed, one gets the feeling that this introduction to the new edition has been hastily tacked on. (The proof reader - if there even was one - failed to notice that the author's name was misspelled "Danill" on the head of each page of the intro - not a good start, that.) However, it's fantastic that the book should be reprinted at all so it isn't really fair to quibble about such things.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have read this book many times over the years but need to keep re-ordering due to friends repeated borrowing.
Still one of the freshest, most inspirational pieces of writing around. If you enjoy Monty Python and that irreverent brand of surrealist humour, Kharms has no equal. Enjoy!
Still one of the freshest, most inspirational pieces of writing around. If you enjoy Monty Python and that irreverent brand of surrealist humour, Kharms has no equal. Enjoy!
12 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Pretty strange stuff. Loved it, though.
Just one tip: Don't read this book if you're normal - you won't like it. Honestly. If you drive a Volvo, watch Eastenders, listen to Jamie Cullum or shop at Debenhams, you'll be baffled by this book. You stick to John Grisham; you'll be safe with him.
Just one tip: Don't read this book if you're normal - you won't like it. Honestly. If you drive a Volvo, watch Eastenders, listen to Jamie Cullum or shop at Debenhams, you'll be baffled by this book. You stick to John Grisham; you'll be safe with him.
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