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by Aleksandr Chudakov (Author), Timothy D. Sergay (Translator)
A landmark work of contemporary Russian literature, now in English for the first time
Set in a fictitious town in North Kazakhstan settled by political and ethnic exiles, this panoramic narrative follows the relationship between the titular character Anton, a Moscow historian of the vital "1960s generation," and his grandfather, Leonid, a titan of physical and intellectual rigor who is now on the verge of death. As Anton contemplates the fading away of that once-powerful vitality, he lets his thoughts plunge deep into the past, presented in a series of fine-grained sketches, scattered reminiscences, and subtly interconnected episodes, back and forth from childhood to present day. The resulting novel is a "Soviet family Robinson" the history of rugged and free-thinking intellectuals eking out a tolerable, even enviable homestead existence despite the difficulties of the Stalin years. One of the most vibrant works of literary fiction created since the fall of the Soviet Union, Aleksandr Chudakov's Anton is a testament to humanity's tenacity and tenderness.
Author Biography
ALEKSANDR CHUDAKOV (1938-2005) was an internationally renowned scholar of Russian literature. He taught at the Institute of World Literature and Moscow State University, as well as universities in Germany, the US, and South Korea. Anton, his only novel, was awarded a special Russian Booker Prize for Best Russian Novel of the 2000s.
TIMOTHY D. SERGAY is a translator and emeritus associate professor of Russian at the University at Albany.
