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Oprichnik's Russia #1
Day of the Oprichnik
One of The Telegraph ’s Best Fiction Books 2011 Moscow, 2028. A cold, snowy morning.
Andrei Danilovich Komiaga is fast asleep. A scream, a moan, and a death rattle slowly pull him out of his drunken stupor—but wait, that’s just his ring tone. And so begins another day in the life of an oprichnik, one of the czar’s most trusted courtiers—and one of the country’s most feared men.
Welcome to the new New Russia, where futuristic technology and the draconian codes of Ivan the Terrible are in perfect synergy. Corporal punishment is back, as is a divine monarch, but these days everyone gets information from high-tech news bubbles, and the elite get high on hallucinogenic, genetically modified fish.
Over the course of one day, Andrei Komiaga will bear witness to—and participate in—brutal executions; extravagant parties; meetings with ballerinas, soothsayers, and even the czarina. He will rape and pillage, and he will be moved to tears by the sweetly sung songs of his homeland. He will consume an arsenal of drugs and denounce threats to his great nation’s morals. And he will fall in love—perhaps even with a number of his colleagues.
Vladimir Sorokin, the man described by Keith Gessen (in The New York Review of Books ) as “[the] only real prose writer, and resident genius” of late-Soviet fiction, has imagined a near future both too disturbing to contemplate and too realistic to dismiss. But like all of his best work, Sorokin’s new novel explodes with invention and dark humor. A startling, relentless portrait of a troubled and troubling empire, Day of the Oprichnik is at once a richly imagined vision of the future and a razor-sharp diagnosis of a country in crisis.
Andrei Danilovich Komiaga is fast asleep. A scream, a moan, and a death rattle slowly pull him out of his drunken stupor—but wait, that’s just his ring tone. And so begins another day in the life of an oprichnik, one of the czar’s most trusted courtiers—and one of the country’s most feared men.
Welcome to the new New Russia, where futuristic technology and the draconian codes of Ivan the Terrible are in perfect synergy. Corporal punishment is back, as is a divine monarch, but these days everyone gets information from high-tech news bubbles, and the elite get high on hallucinogenic, genetically modified fish.
Over the course of one day, Andrei Komiaga will bear witness to—and participate in—brutal executions; extravagant parties; meetings with ballerinas, soothsayers, and even the czarina. He will rape and pillage, and he will be moved to tears by the sweetly sung songs of his homeland. He will consume an arsenal of drugs and denounce threats to his great nation’s morals. And he will fall in love—perhaps even with a number of his colleagues.
Vladimir Sorokin, the man described by Keith Gessen (in The New York Review of Books ) as “[the] only real prose writer, and resident genius” of late-Soviet fiction, has imagined a near future both too disturbing to contemplate and too realistic to dismiss. But like all of his best work, Sorokin’s new novel explodes with invention and dark humor. A startling, relentless portrait of a troubled and troubling empire, Day of the Oprichnik is at once a richly imagined vision of the future and a razor-sharp diagnosis of a country in crisis.
191 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
About the author
Vladimir Sorokin
84 books846 followersVladimir Sorokin (Владимир Сорокин, Vlagyimir Szorokin) was born in a small town outside of Moscow in 1955. He trained as an engineer at the Moscow Institute of Oil and Gas, but turned to art and writing, becoming a major presence in the Moscow underground of the 1980s. His work was banned in the Soviet Union, and his first novel, The Queue, was published by the famed émigré dissident Andrei Sinyavsky in France in 1983. In 1992, Sorokin’s Collected Stories was nominated for the Russian Booker Prize; in 1999, the publication of the controversial novel Blue Lard, which included a sex scene between clones of Stalin and Khrushchev, led to public demonstrations against the book and to demands that Sorokin be prosecuted as a pornographer; in 2001, he received the Andrei Biely Award for outstanding contributions to Russian literature. Sorokin is also the author of the screenplays for the movies Moscow, The Kopeck, and 4, and of the libretto for Leonid Desyatnikov’s Rosenthal’s Children, the first new opera to be commissioned by the Bolshoi Theater since the 1970s. He has written numerous plays and short stories, and his work has been translated throughout the world. Among his most recent books are Sugar Kremlin and Day of the Oprichnik. He lives in Moscow.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 763 reviews
December 31, 2020
Sveltely devastating full-fanged fisting of a Putinesque oligarchy, run by murdering, plundering bandits with a penchant for conga lines of sodomy. The seemingly irreparable problem of fascistic psychotwats rising to power and ruining millions of lives remains as ever the only topic for Russian satirists, although these days the chuckles are bitter, and the threats are no longer exotically skewered in translated novels. If we have learned anything from 2020, and we haven’t, it’s that whatever crisis lies ahead, whatever pain and suffering we must endure in the future, we know for certain our elected officials will utterly powerfuck the whole thing and kill thousands of people through incompetence and indifference, and our only chance of electing better people will perpetually be spoiled by mutton-headed twerps voting for similar mutton-headed twerps. The year ahead will reek like a can of mouldy surströmming and those minute flickers of hope and expectation you feel at the year number changing will swiftly be cudgelled in the arse by the merciless butcher of reality. Until human beings realise we haven’t evolved to adequately occupy the planet, we should concentrate on passing the baton to a more enlightened species, like the bonobos or the chinchillas. Merry etc.
November 28, 2023
Back in 2006, when 'Day of the Oprichnik' was published, it might have seemed a joke, a phantasmagoria, a grotesque exaggeration.
However, today, in 2023, the novel does not seem a joke - what it describes - the Wall isolating the biggest country in the world from the 'rotting' Western world, monarchy supported by Oprichnina, the powerful political police from the 16th century, hypocrisy, massive corruption, the population devoted to mythical archaic values, living in the past and believing in the unique 'mission' the nation has, etc. has become or is becoming an ugly reality.
A good writer is able to predict future, even if he does not intend to.
However, today, in 2023, the novel does not seem a joke - what it describes - the Wall isolating the biggest country in the world from the 'rotting' Western world, monarchy supported by Oprichnina, the powerful political police from the 16th century, hypocrisy, massive corruption, the population devoted to mythical archaic values, living in the past and believing in the unique 'mission' the nation has, etc. has become or is becoming an ugly reality.
A good writer is able to predict future, even if he does not intend to.
June 1, 2024
Day of the Oprichnik is a single working day of Tsar's man Andrei Komyaga – a Monday that begins with a severe hangover. The novel is a biting satire on the omnipotence and privileges of the "enforcers" in Putin's Russia. Written in an Old Russian style, it portrays the future of Russia as a return to medieval archaism and, overall, seems prophetic in relation to today's Russian realities, despite being almost twenty years old.
За время перелёта Порту – Будапешт прочитал День опричника Владимира Сорокина. Пророческий текст, и, имхо, лучший на тему скреп. И как теперь, спрашивается, увидев силовиков не вспомнить эпизод с опричной гусеницей в бане. Эта штука, как говорится, посильнее чем Фауст Гете. А Сорокин – однозначно гений.
Слезы наворачиваются. У меня, конечно, это похмельное.
За время перелёта Порту – Будапешт прочитал День опричника Владимира Сорокина. Пророческий текст, и, имхо, лучший на тему скреп. И как теперь, спрашивается, увидев силовиков не вспомнить эпизод с опричной гусеницей в бане. Эта штука, как говорится, посильнее чем Фауст Гете. А Сорокин – однозначно гений.
Что с Россией будет? Молчит, смотрит внимательно. Жду с трепетом. — Будет ничего. Кланяюсь, правой рукою пола каменного касаюсь. И выхожу.
June 23, 2024
I like bears, so I like the cover: but it all ends there, unfortunately.
This is the first time I've read a Russian novel that was written in the 21st century.
In fact, it's the first time I've read anything by a Russian writer who isn't pushing up daisies. It made me realise this: all the best Russian writers are in the land of the dead, and I'd much rather read a poorly translated Bulgakov or Nabokov when it comes to satire than a superbly translated Sorokin.
It's frenzied nature and graphic violence didn't really bother me, but what did was the fact they are part of a poorly executed satire that goes over the top all too often and that I feared would turn into a complete and utter mess in the end, but it just about held itself together. It raises some important questions as it stomps around mocking the Russian government, and has its nose sniffing around in the past just as much as it does its near future draconian setting. But come on; just how was I going to read this and not compare to a multitude of Russian greats?
Sorokin wouldn't even gain entrance to the same house let alone have a place at their table. Nabokov sitting at the opposite end to Dostoevsky, obviously.
June 21, 2021
66th book of 2021. Artist for this review is Russian painter Konstantin Yuon (1875-1958).
3.5. Wild: violence, rape, drugs: utterly bizarre and over-the-top. Sorokin's dystopian vision of 2028 is hardly imaginable as prophetic, but an interesting look nonetheless. And contextually it plays a large role in a pool of Russian fiction, but I'll get to that later. It has been interesting reading this immediately off the back of Zamyatin's We, which must have been somewhere in Sorokin's mind when writing a Russian dystopian. The only striking similarity is the idea of a Wall that separates Russia from its neighbours, or in the case of We, the forgotten outside world.
Sorokin's unlikely vision of a 2028 future (published in 2006) is a world where the Tsardom of Russia has been restored and the protagonist (Komiaga) is an Oprichnik, a "government henchman", a sort of Gestapo-like figure. They kill the enemies of the state, rape their wives, burn their properties. They also seem to take a copious amount of very bizarre drugs; one instance: Komiaga acquires a tank of tiny golden fish which the Oprichniks put into their veins and allow the fish to swim into their bloodstreams and consequently have a collective trip together (where they become a many-headed dragon). At another point in the novel they take tablets and their ballsacks glow. So between violence and raping and sex, the book becomes a strange mix of A Clockwork Orange, Fahrenheit 451, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (or any PKD novel filled with drug-use/abuse) and We.
"Planet"—1921
It gets quite extreme. At one point there's a giant homosexual-penetration scene where they become a caterpillar of penetration. There's the description of systematic rape fairly near the start of the novel too. The drug-use is mostly bizarre and entertaining. The murder is comical almost. In a way, it's a sick sort of tragicomedy about Russia. One review, by Victoria Nelson, summed it up nicely: "It's an outrageous, salacious, over-the-top tragicomic depiction of an utterly depraved social order whose absolute monarch (referred to only as "His Majesty") is a blatant conflation of the country's current president with its ferocious 16th-century absolute monarch known as Ivan Grozny." The rape of the woman in the beginning is justified by its unifying nature, that each having a turn raping the same woman made the Oprichniks feel togetherness, as a we, as a system, a collected identity. Overall the novel is an interesting (sickly so) and bizarre novel of violence and vague ideas of Russia and a persistent Soviet mentality, persisting to 2028.
"People"—1923
***************************************
It is a single day, one day, in the life of this Oprichnik, which seemed similar, of course, to Solzhenitsyn's novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. It turns out Sorokin doesn't like Solzhenitsyn, as a man or as a writer. Apparently the novel is also a parody of the 1927 novel Behind the Thistle by General Pyotr Krasnov, but as I haven't read it, I can't comment. I read a fair amount about it and the connections but don't feel qualified to report it here. There is also a giant influence from a Russian literary thinker, Mikhail Bakhtin, and his ideas of the collective grotesque body. A lot going on in the background of this seemingly ridiculous novel. Sorokin is regarded as one of the greatest living Russian novelists and his Ice Trilogy looks excellent. I think I'll be moving there next.
Sorokin
3.5. Wild: violence, rape, drugs: utterly bizarre and over-the-top. Sorokin's dystopian vision of 2028 is hardly imaginable as prophetic, but an interesting look nonetheless. And contextually it plays a large role in a pool of Russian fiction, but I'll get to that later. It has been interesting reading this immediately off the back of Zamyatin's We, which must have been somewhere in Sorokin's mind when writing a Russian dystopian. The only striking similarity is the idea of a Wall that separates Russia from its neighbours, or in the case of We, the forgotten outside world.
Sorokin's unlikely vision of a 2028 future (published in 2006) is a world where the Tsardom of Russia has been restored and the protagonist (Komiaga) is an Oprichnik, a "government henchman", a sort of Gestapo-like figure. They kill the enemies of the state, rape their wives, burn their properties. They also seem to take a copious amount of very bizarre drugs; one instance: Komiaga acquires a tank of tiny golden fish which the Oprichniks put into their veins and allow the fish to swim into their bloodstreams and consequently have a collective trip together (where they become a many-headed dragon). At another point in the novel they take tablets and their ballsacks glow. So between violence and raping and sex, the book becomes a strange mix of A Clockwork Orange, Fahrenheit 451, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (or any PKD novel filled with drug-use/abuse) and We.
"Planet"—1921
It gets quite extreme. At one point there's a giant homosexual-penetration scene where they become a caterpillar of penetration. There's the description of systematic rape fairly near the start of the novel too. The drug-use is mostly bizarre and entertaining. The murder is comical almost. In a way, it's a sick sort of tragicomedy about Russia. One review, by Victoria Nelson, summed it up nicely: "It's an outrageous, salacious, over-the-top tragicomic depiction of an utterly depraved social order whose absolute monarch (referred to only as "His Majesty") is a blatant conflation of the country's current president with its ferocious 16th-century absolute monarch known as Ivan Grozny." The rape of the woman in the beginning is justified by its unifying nature, that each having a turn raping the same woman made the Oprichniks feel togetherness, as a we, as a system, a collected identity. Overall the novel is an interesting (sickly so) and bizarre novel of violence and vague ideas of Russia and a persistent Soviet mentality, persisting to 2028.
"People"—1923
***************************************
It is a single day, one day, in the life of this Oprichnik, which seemed similar, of course, to Solzhenitsyn's novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. It turns out Sorokin doesn't like Solzhenitsyn, as a man or as a writer. Apparently the novel is also a parody of the 1927 novel Behind the Thistle by General Pyotr Krasnov, but as I haven't read it, I can't comment. I read a fair amount about it and the connections but don't feel qualified to report it here. There is also a giant influence from a Russian literary thinker, Mikhail Bakhtin, and his ideas of the collective grotesque body. A lot going on in the background of this seemingly ridiculous novel. Sorokin is regarded as one of the greatest living Russian novelists and his Ice Trilogy looks excellent. I think I'll be moving there next.
Sorokin
July 8, 2023
English: Day of the Oprichnik
First published in 2006, Sorokin's novel imagines a totalitarian Russia under a tsar a.k.a. Putin in 2027, and you probably have to call it a dystopian satire, but looking at the genocide campaign in Ukraine, fueled by soldiers and mercenaries hired to disregard all rules and to turn the region into a real-life torture and gore hell, it's not far off from our reality. The plot is structured around one day in the life of Andrej Danilowitsch Komjaga, who, as the narrator, takes us along for a day in his life as a Oprichnik, so a member of the elite unit that helps to keep the state running by means of, you know, murder, rape, violence, degradation, fear, and general ruthlessness - if that rings a bell, it's probably because people tend to mysteriously disappear and / or die in Russia if they dare to speak up.
So Komjaga participates in the awesome and not at all pathetic rituals of toxic masculinity, like violent rampages, drugs, orgies based on sexual degradation, and riding bare-chested through the tundra or so (find the mistake! :-)). The isolated and nationalist state has turned into one neurotic cage based on power kayfabe. I also howled over the gas line to Europe, which in its real form (Nord Stream 1 and 2) was of course a HUGE political topic in Germany and on the whole continent (see the new EU Industrial Plan for the Green Deal, a billion Euro project to fight off energy and resource dependency). Sorokin saw it coming. The book also features a "Great Russian Wall" which, *aaarrrrghhhh*, .... I'm German, so you can guess how I feel about walls as a geopolitical idea (spoiler alert: It's shit).
The tricky thing here is that on the one hand, Sorokin seems to work with many, many references to classic Russian literature that, let's not kid ourselves, I miss. And then, this is a story that I feel that I heard for a thousand times, because it's way too easy to say that what we get here is a a critique of Soviet-style Russia - it's also fascist Germany and Italy, it's the fever dream of the American right, it's English colonialism, it's African dictatorships, etc. pp. It's all the same story, over and over again, and that's kind of the point of the book as well: Frequently helped by its own people, a caste of military and financial power players subjugates everything under their own interests, which they pretend is the nation's interest, and their status is upheld by those who get crumbs of the profit. What differs are only the lies to justify inexcusable actions. Still, it does not render the whole thing more interesting on the plot-level.
I'm very conflicted, because the novel reaches its intended effect, it does exactly what it aims to do, and I'm still bothered: It's fueled by raw anger, which turns the dire jokes lame and works to the detriment of nuance and aesthetic quality. But this anger is so justified and needs to get its space, and that's probably how the book needs to be judged.
First published in 2006, Sorokin's novel imagines a totalitarian Russia under a tsar a.k.a. Putin in 2027, and you probably have to call it a dystopian satire, but looking at the genocide campaign in Ukraine, fueled by soldiers and mercenaries hired to disregard all rules and to turn the region into a real-life torture and gore hell, it's not far off from our reality. The plot is structured around one day in the life of Andrej Danilowitsch Komjaga, who, as the narrator, takes us along for a day in his life as a Oprichnik, so a member of the elite unit that helps to keep the state running by means of, you know, murder, rape, violence, degradation, fear, and general ruthlessness - if that rings a bell, it's probably because people tend to mysteriously disappear and / or die in Russia if they dare to speak up.
So Komjaga participates in the awesome and not at all pathetic rituals of toxic masculinity, like violent rampages, drugs, orgies based on sexual degradation, and riding bare-chested through the tundra or so (find the mistake! :-)). The isolated and nationalist state has turned into one neurotic cage based on power kayfabe. I also howled over the gas line to Europe, which in its real form (Nord Stream 1 and 2) was of course a HUGE political topic in Germany and on the whole continent (see the new EU Industrial Plan for the Green Deal, a billion Euro project to fight off energy and resource dependency). Sorokin saw it coming. The book also features a "Great Russian Wall" which, *aaarrrrghhhh*, .... I'm German, so you can guess how I feel about walls as a geopolitical idea (spoiler alert: It's shit).
The tricky thing here is that on the one hand, Sorokin seems to work with many, many references to classic Russian literature that, let's not kid ourselves, I miss. And then, this is a story that I feel that I heard for a thousand times, because it's way too easy to say that what we get here is a a critique of Soviet-style Russia - it's also fascist Germany and Italy, it's the fever dream of the American right, it's English colonialism, it's African dictatorships, etc. pp. It's all the same story, over and over again, and that's kind of the point of the book as well: Frequently helped by its own people, a caste of military and financial power players subjugates everything under their own interests, which they pretend is the nation's interest, and their status is upheld by those who get crumbs of the profit. What differs are only the lies to justify inexcusable actions. Still, it does not render the whole thing more interesting on the plot-level.
I'm very conflicted, because the novel reaches its intended effect, it does exactly what it aims to do, and I'm still bothered: It's fueled by raw anger, which turns the dire jokes lame and works to the detriment of nuance and aesthetic quality. But this anger is so justified and needs to get its space, and that's probably how the book needs to be judged.
March 13, 2017
I feel like this book was my punishment for staying up and reading when I should’ve been sleeping.
May 10, 2016
Welcome to new Russia, where the Russian Empire has been restored back to the draconian codes of Ivan the Terrible. Corporal punishment is back and the monarchy is divided once again, but this is the future, the not so distant future for the Russian empire, or is it? Day of the Oprichnik follows a government henchman, an Oprichnik, through a day of grotesque event.
Day of the Oprichnik is a thought provoking Science Fiction novel of the worst possible Russia imagined. But while the book is dark, it also is hilarious and then it has this wonderfully satirical nature about it. Komiaga is the narrator of this gem, an anti-hero and one of the Tsar’s most devoted henchmen. While the humour and satire throughout this book is grotesque, this book is a perfect example of great contemporary Russian literature as well as a political critique.
I will admit I like these types of modern Russian Science Fiction novels, like Super Sad True Love Story, you have this wonderful dystopian backdrop as well as the high tech gadgets like the “mobilov” and then you use this to create delightfully thought provoking plot riddled with satirical elements. These witty and intelligently written books are what I live for.
Komiaga is one of the elites, enforcing the laws of the land, helping the Czar’s to rule with an iron fist for the sake of the motherland and the Russian Orthodox Church. This is my first Vladimir Sorokin novel and I would like to compare this novel to one of Philip K. Dick’s (Man in the High Castle to be exact); there is this wonderfully crafted story and you have these philosophical and political ideas that stick with you well after you have finished the book.
The Telegraph named this book one of the best for 2011 and the New York Review called Sorokin “[the] only real prose writer, and resident genius” of late-Soviet fiction”, just to give you an idea of what to expect. Day of the Oprichnik is deliciously complex, full of garish science fiction and hallucinogenic fish. Komiaga’s day might not be a typical one but it’s full of executions, parties, meetings, oracles, and even the Czarina.
I loved every moment of Day of the Oprichnik, even the moments that made me think “WTF” and for all of the people that have read this book, I want to say one word that will mean something to you but not the others, the word that the person who recommended this book to me said when I finished. That word is “caterpillar”. For everyone else; read the book, enjoy the satire, black humour and Science Fiction elements of this book and also find out what I mean.
Day of the Oprichnik is a thought provoking Science Fiction novel of the worst possible Russia imagined. But while the book is dark, it also is hilarious and then it has this wonderfully satirical nature about it. Komiaga is the narrator of this gem, an anti-hero and one of the Tsar’s most devoted henchmen. While the humour and satire throughout this book is grotesque, this book is a perfect example of great contemporary Russian literature as well as a political critique.
I will admit I like these types of modern Russian Science Fiction novels, like Super Sad True Love Story, you have this wonderful dystopian backdrop as well as the high tech gadgets like the “mobilov” and then you use this to create delightfully thought provoking plot riddled with satirical elements. These witty and intelligently written books are what I live for.
Komiaga is one of the elites, enforcing the laws of the land, helping the Czar’s to rule with an iron fist for the sake of the motherland and the Russian Orthodox Church. This is my first Vladimir Sorokin novel and I would like to compare this novel to one of Philip K. Dick’s (Man in the High Castle to be exact); there is this wonderfully crafted story and you have these philosophical and political ideas that stick with you well after you have finished the book.
The Telegraph named this book one of the best for 2011 and the New York Review called Sorokin “[the] only real prose writer, and resident genius” of late-Soviet fiction”, just to give you an idea of what to expect. Day of the Oprichnik is deliciously complex, full of garish science fiction and hallucinogenic fish. Komiaga’s day might not be a typical one but it’s full of executions, parties, meetings, oracles, and even the Czarina.
I loved every moment of Day of the Oprichnik, even the moments that made me think “WTF” and for all of the people that have read this book, I want to say one word that will mean something to you but not the others, the word that the person who recommended this book to me said when I finished. That word is “caterpillar”. For everyone else; read the book, enjoy the satire, black humour and Science Fiction elements of this book and also find out what I mean.
September 23, 2022
Nein, das war nicht mein Buch. Sicherlich, literarische Übertreibung ist ein gängiges Mittel um den Lesern gegenwärtige Missstände vor Augen zu führen. Brauchen wir das aber, gerade in der aktuellen Zeit? Muss ich plastische Schilderungen von Vergewaltigungen, Folterungen, Verbrennungen lesen um zu wissen, dass Putin sich wie ein neuer Zar gebärdet und seine Kettenhunde von KGB, GRU, Wagner-Gruppe, Kadyrowcy usw. agieren wie mittelalterliche Landsknechte? Ich dachte es wäre interessant das Innenleben einer solcher Truppe zu sehen, aber da ist nichts! Nichts als Trieb nach Sex, nach Fressen, nach Geld, nach Drogen. Zugegeben, einiges hat Sorokin im Erscheinungsjahr des Romans (2006) schon (vorher)gesehen: die Verbandelung von Staatsmacht und Kirche, die Übernahme des Staates durch den KGB, die Rückorientierung auf das zaristische Russland mit Peter I. als großem Vorbild, die Abschottung vom Westen, die Hinwendung zu China, der latente Antisemitismus, die ausgreifenden Korruption vor allem in höchsten Kreisen. Aber all dies hätte ich auch in einer journalistischen oder wissenschaftlichen Schrift lesen können, wozu also ein belletristisches Buch.
Wären da nicht die handwerklich hervorragende Übersetzung des schwierigen Textes voller Umgangssprache und Neologismen durch Andreas Tretner und die stimmige Einlesung durch Stefan Kaminski, hätte ich sogar nur einen Stern vergeben.
Wären da nicht die handwerklich hervorragende Übersetzung des schwierigen Textes voller Umgangssprache und Neologismen durch Andreas Tretner und die stimmige Einlesung durch Stefan Kaminski, hätte ich sogar nur einen Stern vergeben.
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August 16, 2022Video about this and other Sorokin works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edtVH...
September 23, 2019
трудно, конечно, отыскать более ёмкую квинтэссенцию русского духа. это, впрочем, не новость; а вот что я осознала только сейчас — так это то, насколько поразительно чистым, живым и естественным языком (да-да, несмотря на всю устаревшую лексику и инверсии) она написана. благодаря этому и порнография звучит не похабно, и мироощущение героя получается очень искренним, и просто — удовольствие читать.
а ещё это не сатира. Сорокин ведь всё описанное не только и не столько высмеивает, сколько рисует вполне неподдельно и даже, не побоюсь этого слова, душевно — не боясь этот (то бишь наш) мир любить. и это поднимает «День опричника» над простой пародией.
а ещё это не сатира. Сорокин ведь всё описанное не только и не столько высмеивает, сколько рисует вполне неподдельно и даже, не побоюсь этого слова, душевно — не боясь этот (то бишь наш) мир любить. и это поднимает «День опричника» над простой пародией.
August 28, 2016
«Идея опричнины до сих пор жива в России. Все наши силовые ведомства считали себя опричниками. Чем отличается Россия от Запада? Немец или француз скажут: государство – это я. А русский скажет: государство – это они, власть. Россия по-прежнему закрыта, беспощадна и непредсказуема по отношению к своему народу»
Владимир Сорокин
«День опричника» — эта книга ровно о том, что в названии. Один день из жизни опричника, человека государе��а, Андрея Комяги. Его кумир — Малюта Скуратов, его религия — единственно верная, его цель — смерть всем супротивным. Стоит ли читать и к чему быть готовым при прочтении?
Немецкая обложка, по-моему, самая лучшая.
Это моя первая книга Сорокина, и я была знатно напугана отзывами моих знакомых о том, что книги Сорокина — полный бред, пишет непонятно о чём, да еще и кое-что в его книгах едят (Норма). Но я всё же рискнула, и нисколько не жалею.
— Не угодно ли господину опричнику приобрести последние новинки российской изящной словесности?
Распахивает передо мною трехстворчатый лоток свой. Книжные лотки тоже стандартные, одобренные Государем и утвержденные Словесной Палатой. Народ у нас книгу уважает. В левой створе — православная литература, в правой — классика русская, а посередь — новинки современных писателей. Сперва разглядываю новинки прозы отечественной: Иван Коробов «Береза белая», Николай Воропаевский «Отцы наши», Исаак Эпштейн «Покорение тундры», Рашид Заметдинов «Россия — родина моя», Павел Олегов «Нижегородские десятины», Савватий Шаркунов «Будни Западной Стены», Иродиада Денюжкина «Друг мой сердечный», Оксана Подробская «Нравы детей новых китайцев». Этих авторов я хорошо знаю. Известны они, заслуженны. Любовью народной и Государевой обласканы.
Москва, 2027 год. Россия отделена от западного мира Великой Русской Стеной. Машины, техника, практически все товары поставляет Китай, связей с другими цивилизациями не осталось. Для поддержания порядка в этом идеальном государстве есть специальные люди — опричники, закрытая группа, со своими порядками, нормами и правилами. Главный герой — не последний человек среди опричников, а скорее даже один из первых. Батя его любит, и особенно отличает — приглашает попариться в своих «хоромах», вместе с другими приближенными, после общей трапезы. Там, собственно, и происходит одна из тех самых скандальных сексуальных сцен в книге, из-за которой многие потом книгу критикуют. Но сорокинский текст дословно понимать нельзя, это всегда символ, метафора, знак. Сцена в бане у Бати показывает круговую поруку среди власть имущих (рука руку моет). И не надо забывать, что в замкнутых, сугубо мужских коллективах всегда были свои развлечения. Ими проверяется сила братства, кто что способен выдержать, насколько каждый член группы силён. По сути, это способ установления иерархии внутри группы, у кого какие права и обязанности. Что-то из разряда развлечений у мальчиков «кто не прыгнул с гаража, тот слабак». У опричников же в баньке не только круг из опричников (каламбур!), но и другие способы проверить силу духа — алмазными сверлами, например, в ноги тыкать товарищам и сверлить. Комяга и из этого действа делает патриотический вывод: «Терпение — вот чему молодым надобно у нас, коренных, поучиться».
Книга вообще испещрена перлами главного героя. Цитировать его слова можно бесконечно.
Ежели говорить по совести — ничего антигосударственного я в этих рыбках не нахожу. Народу простому они недоступны, а у людей богатых да высокопоставленных должны быть слабости свои. Ведь слабость слабости — рознь. Государев отец Николай Платонович в свое время великий указ издал «Об употреблении бодрящих и расслабляющих снадобий». По указу этому кокоша, феничка и трава были раз и навсегда разрешены для широкого употребления. Ибо вреда государству они не приносят, а лишь помогают гражданам в труде и в отдыхе.
Сорокин в книге выбрал для повествования единственно подходящий стиль. Язык, что называется, ни прибавить, ни убавить. Смесь архаичных слов и выражений с современными деталями — телефоном («мобило»), телевизором («вестевой пузырь»), радио. По радио, правда, поёт «Краснознаменский Кремлёвский хор», да еще и на заказ.
Актуальность текст сейчас не только не теряет, но скорее приобретает. Я вообще удивлена, как Сорокин в 2006 году мог написать то, что будет происходить в наше время.
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March 27, 2022Lucidno i duhovito, delom i neprevodivo.
Na muku, zato mi je teško i da ocenim, "snašla" sam se na brzinu za engleski prevod koji maši jezičke asocijacije i humor verovatno u celini. Kulturološke i političke asocijacije da i ne spominjem. Nora ima odličan review.
Izvesno bi trebalo čitati, ako ne u originalu, onda obavezno u prevodu na srodne slovenske jezike.
Na muku, zato mi je teško i da ocenim, "snašla" sam se na brzinu za engleski prevod koji maši jezičke asocijacije i humor verovatno u celini. Kulturološke i političke asocijacije da i ne spominjem. Nora ima odličan review.
Izvesno bi trebalo čitati, ako ne u originalu, onda obavezno u prevodu na srodne slovenske jezike.
September 24, 2011
Very good disturbing book depicting a dystopian Russian society in the not too distant future. Characters are rich, the settings are well described and the writing is crisp and poignant.
February 10, 2017
It's 2027, and Mother Russia is finally great again. The Soviet years and the messy capitalist confusion that followed are long over, the decadent junkie cyberpunks in the West have been shut out with a huge wall, the Czar is back in the Kremlin, the sacred Russian church is in charge of moral, and the not-so-secret secret police keep everyone in check. Finally, everyone can sit back and be Russian - that is work hard, pray, eat black bread, and try not to notice that the Chinese are making a fortune off them.
Like the title suggests, A Day In The Life Of An Oprichnik borrows the structure from Solzhenitsyn's Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich, but instead of a political prisoner, this time we get to follow one of the jailers. (Well, supposedly.) Komyaga is one of the top enforcers in the secret police, and during one day he gets to see a lot of action; he roots out and hangs unwanted elements, he oversees the day's state-approved dissident poetry and makes sure it's not too subversive, he flies to Sibiria to consult with soothsayers and make deals with the Chinese, he does very expensive drugs, he philosophizes on the importance of Russianness... Especially the bits about the serfs and the czar and the church and blind obedience for the greater good. Praise the classics and make sure nobody reads them wrong or writes anything new that might upset the ruling order.
Each kiosk has to have two of each product so the people can choose. It's wise and profound. Our people - God's people - should choose between two products, not three and not thirty-three. When the people choose between two they feel calm, safe for tomorrow, they have no worries and are content. And with a people like that, a content people, great things can be achieved.
It's a gleefully vicious satire Sorokin serves up, both of nationalism and Orwellian controlled pseudo-democracy in general, but also of the Putinist conservative to-thyself-be-enough vision. It's deliberately over the top, ending in an outright pornographical gangbang of the supposedly powerful, but it's hard to miss the point: going forward by going backward and demanding that everyone respect the Good Old Ways will only lead to a snake eating its own tail, losing itself in a dream of what a country should be but never was.
And meanwhile the Chinese buy everyone.
Like the title suggests, A Day In The Life Of An Oprichnik borrows the structure from Solzhenitsyn's Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich, but instead of a political prisoner, this time we get to follow one of the jailers. (Well, supposedly.) Komyaga is one of the top enforcers in the secret police, and during one day he gets to see a lot of action; he roots out and hangs unwanted elements, he oversees the day's state-approved dissident poetry and makes sure it's not too subversive, he flies to Sibiria to consult with soothsayers and make deals with the Chinese, he does very expensive drugs, he philosophizes on the importance of Russianness... Especially the bits about the serfs and the czar and the church and blind obedience for the greater good. Praise the classics and make sure nobody reads them wrong or writes anything new that might upset the ruling order.
Each kiosk has to have two of each product so the people can choose. It's wise and profound. Our people - God's people - should choose between two products, not three and not thirty-three. When the people choose between two they feel calm, safe for tomorrow, they have no worries and are content. And with a people like that, a content people, great things can be achieved.
It's a gleefully vicious satire Sorokin serves up, both of nationalism and Orwellian controlled pseudo-democracy in general, but also of the Putinist conservative to-thyself-be-enough vision. It's deliberately over the top, ending in an outright pornographical gangbang of the supposedly powerful, but it's hard to miss the point: going forward by going backward and demanding that everyone respect the Good Old Ways will only lead to a snake eating its own tail, losing itself in a dream of what a country should be but never was.
And meanwhile the Chinese buy everyone.
March 9, 2016
"Dan opričnika" je satira napisana uz poštovanje svih glavnih pravila rimske sature, što me je najpre fasciniralo. Mogo me je podsećao na Juvenala, verovatno zato što je on opisivao Neronovo vreme sa sličnim gnušanjem i sarkazmom kao što Sorokin opisuje Putinovo, ili nekog poput njega.
2028. Rusija je opasana Velikim Zidom koji je deli od ostatka sveta u kome, između ostalih, žive arapski sajberpankeri, melanholici, prokleti budisti, pluralisti, megaonanisti i ko još sve ne.
Od Kine do Pariza vodi autoput sa 11 traka i nekoliko podzemnih pruga koje kontroliše Gospodar Rusije kako mu je volja (po Zakonu, tj.)
Opričnici su nešto između templara, pretorijanske grarde, zemunskog klana, udbaških tajnih službi (da ne nabrajam dalje). Opasnim drogama se drogiraju (što postojećim, što nepostojećim, poput nekakvih bonsai - kečiga koje se puštaju u telo za postizanje kolektivnog tripa svih kojima ribica uplovi u krvotok), ali i bez njih rade sumanute stvari. Za dobrobit majke Rusije, razume se.
Naravno, postoji i Gospodarica i njeno psetance, Gospodarev zet (koji ima 3 rols rojsa - zlatni, srebrni i platinasti - i fetiš da podmeće požare, pa da spašava žene iz plamena i siluje ih pre nego što sve izgori), diplomatski odnosi sa Kinom i Albanijom, pozorišne predstave, proročica koja predviđa gogađaje iz spaljenih knjiga Čeholjevih... i, tako...te stvari.
Biće iznenađeni i oni koji su se nad Peljevinovim rečenicama pitao "na kojim si ti, čoveče, drogetinama ovo pisao".
Sorokin je za nekoliko nijansi zreliji i ozbiljniji od Peljevina, ali, u odnosu na njega ima jednu manjkavost za ne - rusku čitalačku publiku: nisu mu razumljive sve aluzije. Gotovo sam sigurna da imena likova nisu birana bez značenja (Vaistinu, Igla, Baćko...), kao ni nazivi dela koje Gospodar zabranjuje ili odobrava, njihovih autora, naziva radio stanica, marki cigareta i sl.
Ne sećam se da mi je ikad zbog neke knjige bilo ovoliko žao što ne čitam ruski jer je jezik, takođe, svojevrsni eksperiment. Draginja Ramadanski, prevodilac izdanja koje sam čitala zaslužuje orden za ovo što je postignuto, ali sumnjam da je uopšte moguće preneti sve.
Ne bih rekla da preporučujem ovu knjigu svakome (pre nego što se odlučite da li ćete je čitati, potražite nekoga u čiji ukus imate više poverenja), ali je moguće je da će biti zanimljivo i onima koji vole 1984.
Dodaću još maestralnu poslednju scenu: određenim danima u nedelji, predveče, opričnici se okupljaju i odlaze u neku vrstu saune. Tu se malo masiraju, malo bivaju mlaćeni nekakvim metlicama, a onda se i drogiraju (nepostojećim drogama). Opslužuju ih jedan gluvi Kinez i dvojica nemih Rusa...odavde mnooogo pustite mašti na volju.
2028. Rusija je opasana Velikim Zidom koji je deli od ostatka sveta u kome, između ostalih, žive arapski sajberpankeri, melanholici, prokleti budisti, pluralisti, megaonanisti i ko još sve ne.
Od Kine do Pariza vodi autoput sa 11 traka i nekoliko podzemnih pruga koje kontroliše Gospodar Rusije kako mu je volja (po Zakonu, tj.)
Opričnici su nešto između templara, pretorijanske grarde, zemunskog klana, udbaških tajnih službi (da ne nabrajam dalje). Opasnim drogama se drogiraju (što postojećim, što nepostojećim, poput nekakvih bonsai - kečiga koje se puštaju u telo za postizanje kolektivnog tripa svih kojima ribica uplovi u krvotok), ali i bez njih rade sumanute stvari. Za dobrobit majke Rusije, razume se.
Naravno, postoji i Gospodarica i njeno psetance, Gospodarev zet (koji ima 3 rols rojsa - zlatni, srebrni i platinasti - i fetiš da podmeće požare, pa da spašava žene iz plamena i siluje ih pre nego što sve izgori), diplomatski odnosi sa Kinom i Albanijom, pozorišne predstave, proročica koja predviđa gogađaje iz spaljenih knjiga Čeholjevih... i, tako...te stvari.
Biće iznenađeni i oni koji su se nad Peljevinovim rečenicama pitao "na kojim si ti, čoveče, drogetinama ovo pisao".
Sorokin je za nekoliko nijansi zreliji i ozbiljniji od Peljevina, ali, u odnosu na njega ima jednu manjkavost za ne - rusku čitalačku publiku: nisu mu razumljive sve aluzije. Gotovo sam sigurna da imena likova nisu birana bez značenja (Vaistinu, Igla, Baćko...), kao ni nazivi dela koje Gospodar zabranjuje ili odobrava, njihovih autora, naziva radio stanica, marki cigareta i sl.
Ne sećam se da mi je ikad zbog neke knjige bilo ovoliko žao što ne čitam ruski jer je jezik, takođe, svojevrsni eksperiment. Draginja Ramadanski, prevodilac izdanja koje sam čitala zaslužuje orden za ovo što je postignuto, ali sumnjam da je uopšte moguće preneti sve.
Ne bih rekla da preporučujem ovu knjigu svakome (pre nego što se odlučite da li ćete je čitati, potražite nekoga u čiji ukus imate više poverenja), ali je moguće je da će biti zanimljivo i onima koji vole 1984.
Dodaću još maestralnu poslednju scenu: određenim danima u nedelji, predveče, opričnici se okupljaju i odlaze u neku vrstu saune. Tu se malo masiraju, malo bivaju mlaćeni nekakvim metlicama, a onda se i drogiraju (nepostojećim drogama). Opslužuju ih jedan gluvi Kinez i dvojica nemih Rusa...odavde mnooogo pustite mašti na volju.
December 13, 2014
To understand this book, one needs a little background. The oprichniks were a semi-monastic brotherhood that acted as enforcers for Tsar Ivan the Terrible. What Vladimir Sorokin does in Day of the Oprichnik is to move the institution into the near future in a post-Putin society in which the West has been walled off and the Chinese are moving into Russian society.
Sorokin is an excellent writer, though I recommend you read this Wikipedia entry before reading the novel.
The oprichniks of the future ride through the Moscow traffic in their red Mercedovs in special lanes, their cars emitting a loud snarl to make traffic move over for them. Each car is fitted with a dead dog's head as the hood ornament and a broom behind to show that they sweep Russia clean of the Tsar's enemies.
We follow one Andrei Danilovich Komiaga, one of the senior oprichniks, as he participates in the destruction of a wayward noble's estate. This consists of hanging the noble from the gate of his estate, gang-raping his wife and delivering her naked and wrapped in a fleece to her relatives, and sending the children to a state-run orphanage. There are several other tasks, including visiting a famous clairvoyant in Orenburg on behalf of the Tsarina and participating with his fellow oprichniki in a combined steam bath and homosexual drug orgy.
The author shows us aspects of the Russian character that are not usually known to outsiders, which makes this book endlessly fascinating. This is far more than an alternative history fantasy: It approaches the cross-over line into literature.
Sorokin is an excellent writer, though I recommend you read this Wikipedia entry before reading the novel.
The oprichniks of the future ride through the Moscow traffic in their red Mercedovs in special lanes, their cars emitting a loud snarl to make traffic move over for them. Each car is fitted with a dead dog's head as the hood ornament and a broom behind to show that they sweep Russia clean of the Tsar's enemies.
We follow one Andrei Danilovich Komiaga, one of the senior oprichniks, as he participates in the destruction of a wayward noble's estate. This consists of hanging the noble from the gate of his estate, gang-raping his wife and delivering her naked and wrapped in a fleece to her relatives, and sending the children to a state-run orphanage. There are several other tasks, including visiting a famous clairvoyant in Orenburg on behalf of the Tsarina and participating with his fellow oprichniki in a combined steam bath and homosexual drug orgy.
The author shows us aspects of the Russian character that are not usually known to outsiders, which makes this book endlessly fascinating. This is far more than an alternative history fantasy: It approaches the cross-over line into literature.
August 16, 2020
Перечитал, в 2020-ом эта книга ещё смешнее. Антиутопией её назвать язык не поворачивается, это уже почти реальность. От сцен вроде массового сжигания паспортов или там повального импортозамещения я каждый раз в слюни, осталось только великой стены дождаться. Сорокин — как South Park: его тоже никто не запрещает, потому что это равносильно признанию и лишь подтвердит актуальность контента, чего допустить никак нельзя. А ещё у Сорокина вместе с Трэем Паркером и Мэттом Стоуном одинаковый набор приёмов: абсурдная гиперболизация, деконструкция и регулярное использование чернухи как художественного средства, что заставляет нежных интеллектуалов либо снисходительно снобствовать, либо относиться к подобным персонажам как к юродивым.
Все хорошие авторы наблюдательны и неплохо умеют в пророчества и предсказания, Сорокин в этом деле всё ещё один из лучших.
Все хорошие авторы наблюдательны и неплохо умеют в пророчества и предсказания, Сорокин в этом деле всё ещё один из лучших.
July 2, 2020
Sitter och halv läser på jobbet, jag antar jag inte riktigt tänker på vad jag läser för plötsligt är dom i en bastu, penisar lyser i olika färger och de sätter på varandra så det bildas en ring, MEN på ett manligt sätt. Vad fan har jag läst?!
Läst till LIVA18, Litteraturvetenskap: Dystopier för vår tid, 7,5 högskolepoäng.
Läst till LIVA18, Litteraturvetenskap: Dystopier för vår tid, 7,5 högskolepoäng.
November 2, 2019
This is a day-in-the-life account of an Oprichnik, a secret policeman in Mother Russia’s near-future authoritarian re-dystopia. Russia’s new government is an amalgamation of their previous dystopias, and so this story, though brief, is filled to the brim with Russian history. Mixed with a strong satirical storyline, this day-in-the-life account is meant to examine Putin’s Russia through humor and historical reflection. Since my knowledge of Russian history is severely lacking, I frankly found both the humor and the historical context to be confusing, which ultimately made this novel difficult to enjoy.
Hijinks, grotesqueries, and brutalities are in the realm of A Clockwork Orange and the humor that (I guess) is there reminds me of 2017’s The Death of Stalin, which I wasn’t quite a fan of. But, if that mixture plus Russian history sounds entertaining for you, then I say go for it. I can’t say that it was really for me, though.
Hijinks, grotesqueries, and brutalities are in the realm of A Clockwork Orange and the humor that (I guess) is there reminds me of 2017’s The Death of Stalin, which I wasn’t quite a fan of. But, if that mixture plus Russian history sounds entertaining for you, then I say go for it. I can’t say that it was really for me, though.
April 8, 2021
Maskava, 2027. gads. Ir uzcelts mūris, kas atdala Rus no Eiropas, notiek cieša sadarbība ar Ķīnu, ir atjaunota monarhija un ieviesta Ivana Bargā 16.gs. veidotā institūcija - opričina. Grāmata apskata vienu dienu opričnika Komijagas dzīvē. Autors, izmantojot simbolus, vēsturiskus precedentus, ir radījis sava veida satīru par tagadējo varu RUS. Kā reiz autors izteicās kādā intervijā - "Krievija virzās uz viduslaikiem!"
February 10, 2024
Finsteres Portrait einer zukünftigen russischen Gesellschaft. Sorokin spielt mit dieser überdrehten Schreckensvision natürlich auch auf bestimmte Entwicklungen im heutigen Russland an. Deshalb ist ein wenig Kontextwissen nicht schlecht, um die Referenzen im Text zu verstehen. Völlig umgehauen hat mich aber die irrwitzige Saunaszene gegen Ende. Also ehrlich, darauf muss man erst mal kommen!
February 15, 2021
Review to follow
March 8, 2023
Un día en la vida de Andrey Danilovich, un agente oprichnik, lo que vendría a ser una suerte de guarda de élite de verdugos, encargados de todo tipo de trapicheos en las aduanas, pero también de ajusticiamientos y de los saqueos patrocinados por el estado, los que se realizan a la nobleza y altos cargos caídos en desgracia.
El marco espacio-temporal es el de una Rusia distópica, en la que hay comunicación holográfica y desarrollo tecnológico y sin embargo sus fundamentos morales y sociales son netamente medievales, rindiendo ferviente servidumbre al jefe, al que llaman Padre, y todos bajo el manto del Soberano, quien hace y deshace su antojo. Rusia ha construido un muro para aislarse de la que ellos llaman la depravada europea, poblada de ciberpunkis, aunque dado el fanatismo del narrador esto no se puede dar como cierto. En todo caso la autarquía legaliza el terrorismo de estado y el uso de la cocaína y otras drogas para aumentar el rendimiento de los ciudadanos, pero por ejemplo censuran de forma tajante las ficciones provocadoras y subversivas.
Los oprichniks son muy religiosos y obedientes, de hecho no pueden decir insultos sin exponerse a una brutal reprimenda. Y sin embargo en el saqueo narrado al inicio comprobamos como incurren en las mayores depravaciones, luego a lo largo del día también disfrutan de placeres carnales fuertemente censurados por la opinión pública y, en fin, Sorokin expone así la hipocresía que se construye sobre un régimen brutal, necesaria para mantener la maquinaria funcionando y produciendo riquezas a mayo gloria de su oligarquía.
Hace más de un año leí con gusto Hielo, este El día del oprichnik me ha gustado menos, sólo me ha resultado parcialmente satisfactoria. De todas formas, encuentro una lástima que no se publiquen más obras de Sorokin en español, pues un narrador como él, iconoclasta y vigorosamente satírico, combinado con un conocimiento profundo de la literatura, tampoco son tan comunes en el panorama narrativo actual, que vendría a ser un cruce de Robert Coover con Houellebecq. No dispone de una trama propiamente dicha, el único gancho narrativo es seguir las correrías del narrador por Moscú y Rusia mientras oblicuamente expone los rasgos de esa Rusia, en la que los defectos y contradicciones del Imperio ruso están magnificados, y sin embargo presentes. El culto al líder, el tributo patriarcal, el discurso público puritano combinado con la convulsa existencia privada de las élites dan cuenta de una visión retorcida y cínica, una sátira irreverente y corrosiva, en la que no faltan descripciones gráficas de violencias, tampoco alguna fantasía psicodélica.
Sorokin por lo visto vive en Berlín desde el inicio de la guerra con Ucrania. Sus roces con los órganos públicos debido a su estilo iconoclasta no han sido menores, sin embargo se instaló de forma permanente en Berlín para evitar tener que apoyar públicamente una guerra que desaprueba o bien entrar en estériles debates públicos. Desde Alemania, no han faltado sus dardos contra el autoritarismo de Putin, a quien es imposible que esta novela pudiera gustar, yo incluso diría que soportar.
November 27, 2015
This was a very specific mix, this book, this creepy neo-patriarchal grotesque somewhat scifi-ish dystopia. Satirical much, sometimes very funny, sometimes scary and violent, and too true to be funny, especially considering modern tendencies of Russian politics... If you know Russian, you should read it in original, the language of this book is incredible and, hm, beautiful? yeah, surprisingly, it is. And this little book will surprise you, in many ways.
May 5, 2011
This book grew on me. It's not as satirically funny as I expected, but it's pretty intriguing in a sort of sci-fi-define-a-corrupt-world way. Especially like the bits about Russian literature. Writing a real review for Three Percent and starting The Ice Trilogy as soon as I can. (I just saw a performance of Ice--the second book in the trilogy--in NY and was reminded how creepy/intriguing that book really is. I think it was underrated when it came out . . . or it might take the whole trilogy to provide the right context.)
OK, here's the review I wrote for Three Percent (http://www.rochester.edu/College/tran...
Set in a futuristic Moscow (2028 according to the jacket copy), Day of the Oprichnik is exactly that: a day in the life of Andrei Danilovich Komiaga. The oprichniki were essentially a cultish "death squad" that was set up by Tsar Ivan the Terrible back in the mid 1500s to protect his ass and slay his enemies, and in Sorokin's latest novel, they do exactly that--and in graphic detail--all in service of His Majesty, the new ruler of Russia.
As a reader jumping in blind to this book, it doesn't take long to realize that this isn't exactly the Russia we're familiar with . . . In the second paragraph, Komiaga is awoken by screams, moans, and "the death rattle" emanating from his "mobilov" and recorded by "the Secret Department, when they were torturing the Far Eastern general." Then there's reference to a "news bubble," the Far Eastern Pipeline which "will remain closed until petition from the Japanese," and his Mercedov with its "transparent roof."
It's in the last paragraph of this opening chapter that we see what direction Komiaga's day is heading:
Over the rest of the book--the rest of Komiaga's day--he helps destroy the home of a fallen nobleman (and rapes his wife in some surreal prose), goes to church (New Rus is ardently religious), investigates a pasquinade defaming His Majesty's son-in-law, helps pass judgement on an obscene new performance, takes a bribe, does some super-hallucinagenic mindmelding drug of Philip K. Dick proportions, tries to help repress a subversive storyteller, consults a psychic for His Majesty's wife, and participates in a oprichinki orgy, among other sordid, frequently disturbing tasks.
Since the novel's main engine, so to speak, is the attempt to describe (and satirize) an invented world, these set-pieces work exceedingly well. It's through Komiaga's experiences that we learn about the "Western Wall" that cuts New Rus off from the stinking filth of Europe, about the political issues related to taxing all the Chinese inhabitants of Siberia, about the importance of religion, the ban on hard drugs (weed and coke are totally cool), and the restrictions on swearing and obscenity. This novel operates within one of the common trappings of science-fiction novels, in which the author ends up building a plot simply in order to show you the various aspects of the world he invented.
In this case, there's no really overarching plot to speak off aside from simply seeing what happens in a typical day in the life of a member of this special group. What they're allowed to do, how their oppression works, etc. In contrast to the sci-fi book that relies on the creativeness of its inventions (social, scientific, and whatnot), the reason Sorokin's book is mostly successful is due to its satirical charms and frightening truth that, no matter what changes, there's always a secret group of oprichniki with special privileges.
It's probably my own shortcoming, but I get the sense that some of Sorokin's targets slipped by me . . . Or, to put that more positively, that Russian readers (or readers more well versed in the contemporary Russian scene), will get even more out of this. One bit that I particularly liked (which brought to mind an essay of Dubravka Ugresic's from Thank You for Not Reading and plays to my obsessions) was this bit about literature in New Rus:
One of the main problems I had with this book is that it's not as humorous or biting or disturbing as I expected. Sorokin has been the figurehead for contemporary Russian literature for years now. He's been featured in major publications on several occasions (like the New York Review of Books where he was referred to as "the only real prose writer, and resident genius" of late-Soviet fiction), with the general view being that his works are the most subversive, controversial, brilliant things being written in Russia today.
For example, almost every single piece about him that I've read (or written), makes mention of the fact that the Putin Youth symbolically flushed his books down a paper-mache toilet. Or that the untranslated novel "Blue Lard" has a graphic sex scene starring Khrushchev and Stalin. All of which ended up constructing a sort of image of a punk trouble-maker, a shocking sort of explosive writer. That may be true in some contexts, but Day of the Oprichnik, for all its political concerns, isn't the fireball of controversy that I was expecting . . .
Getting that reputation out of the way allows for his work to be appreciated for other reasons though, which will benefit his reputation (in this country at least) in the future. Day of the Oprichnik isn't a bad book, in fact, it's enjoyable to read--something that sounds odd to say when it's a book featuring a sizable helping of destruction and violence. But Komiaga's voice is compelling, and he serves the reader well in leading us through this new, perplexing world.
An interesting aspect of Komiaga's voice, that happens also to be a translation question, is the use of italicized words throughout the text. Sometimes these italics imply a special new code of sorts, like when he refers to "an order to squash the innards" during "a raid," or the order to perform a "red rooster." Other times, the italics are particular phrasings emphasized to provoke a certain feeling (usually creepy), like in this bit related to the nobleman's wife:
There are so, so many of these italicized words and phrases in the book, many of which just seem odd or distracting or emphasizing the wrong word. ("I've seen many book and manuscript bonfires--in our courtyard, and in the Secret Department.") I have every confidence in the world in Jamey Gambrell's translation (she also did Sorokin's The Queue and The Ice Trilogy, so she definitely knows his work and style), but I am curious as to how these worked in the original Russian. Sometimes punctuation and other forms of emphasis don't always translate exactly . . .
Overall, Day of the Oprichnik is an intriguing book (a 7.1 out of 10), and hopefully in combination with the recent publication of The Ice Trilogy, will help English readers have a much better understanding of Sorokin's art, and not just his reputation.
OK, here's the review I wrote for Three Percent (http://www.rochester.edu/College/tran...
Set in a futuristic Moscow (2028 according to the jacket copy), Day of the Oprichnik is exactly that: a day in the life of Andrei Danilovich Komiaga. The oprichniki were essentially a cultish "death squad" that was set up by Tsar Ivan the Terrible back in the mid 1500s to protect his ass and slay his enemies, and in Sorokin's latest novel, they do exactly that--and in graphic detail--all in service of His Majesty, the new ruler of Russia.
As a reader jumping in blind to this book, it doesn't take long to realize that this isn't exactly the Russia we're familiar with . . . In the second paragraph, Komiaga is awoken by screams, moans, and "the death rattle" emanating from his "mobilov" and recorded by "the Secret Department, when they were torturing the Far Eastern general." Then there's reference to a "news bubble," the Far Eastern Pipeline which "will remain closed until petition from the Japanese," and his Mercedov with its "transparent roof."
It's in the last paragraph of this opening chapter that we see what direction Komiaga's day is heading:
In the rearview mirror I see my homestead receding. A good house, with a heart and soul. I've been living in it for only seven months, yet it feels as though I was born and grew up there. The property used to belong to a comrade moneychanger at the Treasury: Gorokhov, Stepan Ignatievich. When he fell into disgrace during the Great Treasury Purge and exposed himself, we took him in hand During that hot summer a good number of Treasury heads rolled. Bobrov and five of his henchmen were paraded through Moscow in an iron cage, then flogged with the rod and beheaded on Lobnoe Mesto in Red Square. Half of the Treasury was exiled from Moscow beyond the Urals. There was a lot of work . . .
Over the rest of the book--the rest of Komiaga's day--he helps destroy the home of a fallen nobleman (and rapes his wife in some surreal prose), goes to church (New Rus is ardently religious), investigates a pasquinade defaming His Majesty's son-in-law, helps pass judgement on an obscene new performance, takes a bribe, does some super-hallucinagenic mindmelding drug of Philip K. Dick proportions, tries to help repress a subversive storyteller, consults a psychic for His Majesty's wife, and participates in a oprichinki orgy, among other sordid, frequently disturbing tasks.
Since the novel's main engine, so to speak, is the attempt to describe (and satirize) an invented world, these set-pieces work exceedingly well. It's through Komiaga's experiences that we learn about the "Western Wall" that cuts New Rus off from the stinking filth of Europe, about the political issues related to taxing all the Chinese inhabitants of Siberia, about the importance of religion, the ban on hard drugs (weed and coke are totally cool), and the restrictions on swearing and obscenity. This novel operates within one of the common trappings of science-fiction novels, in which the author ends up building a plot simply in order to show you the various aspects of the world he invented.
In this case, there's no really overarching plot to speak off aside from simply seeing what happens in a typical day in the life of a member of this special group. What they're allowed to do, how their oppression works, etc. In contrast to the sci-fi book that relies on the creativeness of its inventions (social, scientific, and whatnot), the reason Sorokin's book is mostly successful is due to its satirical charms and frightening truth that, no matter what changes, there's always a secret group of oprichniki with special privileges.
It's probably my own shortcoming, but I get the sense that some of Sorokin's targets slipped by me . . . Or, to put that more positively, that Russian readers (or readers more well versed in the contemporary Russian scene), will get even more out of this. One bit that I particularly liked (which brought to mind an essay of Dubravka Ugresic's from Thank You for Not Reading and plays to my obsessions) was this bit about literature in New Rus:
Bookstands are also standardized, approved by His Majesty and approved by the Literary Chamber. Our people respect books. On the left side there's Orthodox Church literature; on the right the Russian classics; and in the middle, the latest works by contemporary writers. First I look over the prose of our country's contemporary writers: Ivan Korobov's White Birch; Nikolia Voropaevsky's Our Fathers; Isaak Epshtein's The Taming of the Tundra; Rashid Zametdinov's Russia--My Motherland; Pavel Olegov's The Nizhny Novgorod Tithe; Savvaty Sharkunov's Daily Life of the Western Wall; Irodiada Deniuzhkina's My Heart's Friend; Oksana Podrobskaya's The Mores of New Chinese Children. I know all these authors well. They're famous, distinguished. Caressed by the love of the people and His Majesty.
One of the main problems I had with this book is that it's not as humorous or biting or disturbing as I expected. Sorokin has been the figurehead for contemporary Russian literature for years now. He's been featured in major publications on several occasions (like the New York Review of Books where he was referred to as "the only real prose writer, and resident genius" of late-Soviet fiction), with the general view being that his works are the most subversive, controversial, brilliant things being written in Russia today.
For example, almost every single piece about him that I've read (or written), makes mention of the fact that the Putin Youth symbolically flushed his books down a paper-mache toilet. Or that the untranslated novel "Blue Lard" has a graphic sex scene starring Khrushchev and Stalin. All of which ended up constructing a sort of image of a punk trouble-maker, a shocking sort of explosive writer. That may be true in some contexts, but Day of the Oprichnik, for all its political concerns, isn't the fireball of controversy that I was expecting . . .
Getting that reputation out of the way allows for his work to be appreciated for other reasons though, which will benefit his reputation (in this country at least) in the future. Day of the Oprichnik isn't a bad book, in fact, it's enjoyable to read--something that sounds odd to say when it's a book featuring a sizable helping of destruction and violence. But Komiaga's voice is compelling, and he serves the reader well in leading us through this new, perplexing world.
An interesting aspect of Komiaga's voice, that happens also to be a translation question, is the use of italicized words throughout the text. Sometimes these italics imply a special new code of sorts, like when he refers to "an order to squash the innards" during "a raid," or the order to perform a "red rooster." Other times, the italics are particular phrasings emphasized to provoke a certain feeling (usually creepy), like in this bit related to the nobleman's wife:
This work is--passionate, and absolutely necessary. It gives us more strength to overcome the enemies of the Russian state. Even this succulent work requires a certain seriousness. You have to start and finish by seniority.
There are so, so many of these italicized words and phrases in the book, many of which just seem odd or distracting or emphasizing the wrong word. ("I've seen many book and manuscript bonfires--in our courtyard, and in the Secret Department.") I have every confidence in the world in Jamey Gambrell's translation (she also did Sorokin's The Queue and The Ice Trilogy, so she definitely knows his work and style), but I am curious as to how these worked in the original Russian. Sometimes punctuation and other forms of emphasis don't always translate exactly . . .
Overall, Day of the Oprichnik is an intriguing book (a 7.1 out of 10), and hopefully in combination with the recent publication of The Ice Trilogy, will help English readers have a much better understanding of Sorokin's art, and not just his reputation.
October 2, 2015
This book...it's scary. It's the future of Russia re-imagined, with all the nostalgia for the absolutism gone wrong and turned inside out, where bigotry and puritanism and patriarchy and righteous violence mix with reverence and tears spilled over touching songs and hallucinogenic drugs enjoyed in the technologically outfitted dens for high-elite police whose job is to kill and to rape and to pillage and to burn, a la Ivan the Terrible, hence, oprichniks.
Brrr...this is not a book, it's a prophecy, to what happens in Russia now. Read it to glimpse the horror. Beautifully written.
Brrr...this is not a book, it's a prophecy, to what happens in Russia now. Read it to glimpse the horror. Beautifully written.
February 17, 2024
Vladimir Sorokin bu romanında Çarlığın geri geldiği, iyice despotik bir hale dönüşen Rusya’da, doğrudan Çar’a bağlı bir birliğin ve bu birliğin önemli adamlarından birinin öyküsünü anlatıyor bize. Daha önce okuduğum romanı Tipi’de olduğu gibi bunu yaparken yine kendine has, eşsiz bir evren yaratmayı başarıyor. Klasik bir Rus romanı okuyor gibi hissediyorsunuz fakat bir yandan da son teknoloji halüsinatif maddelerden tutun da yeni dünya düzenine kadar bilimkurgu öğeleri karşınıza çıkıyor. Buraya kadar her şey çok güzel ve hayranlık uyandırıcı ama bundan sonrasında sıkıntı baş gösteriyor. O da şöyle ki bu romanda tam anlamıyla bir hikaye ya da karakter gelişimi yok. Yazarın yarattığı dünyanın farklı şekillerde uzun uzun anlatımı, arada da karakterin başına gelen türlü olaylar var. Böyle olunca da bir noktadan sonra ister istemez ilgi kaybediliyor. Bu iki kitaptan oluşan bir seri olduğu için belki yazar bu kitabı bir giriş olarak tasarlamıştır onu bilmiyorum ama şimdiki haliyle bir sürü parlak fikre rağmen elden kayıp giden bir metin hissi uyandırıyor.
February 2, 2021
Sorokin is a new writer to me, and after completing this I am eager to read more from him.
With Putin and Russia in the news once again, I thought it was an appropriate time for this.
And if I had any doubt..
This is a day in the life of an Oprichnik in the Moscow of 2028, where the Tsar is God, and once more on the throne, worshipped by a cowed nation. The Oprichniks were Ivan the Terrible's thugs, a decadent team of raping and torturing servicemen charged with policing interior threats, especially those posed by the nobility.
Andrei Danilovich Komiaga’s day begins in the first paragraph..
There's a little science fiction to proceedings, with the 'mobilovs' (a sort of video phone bubble) and Mercedovs (super fast cars made in China), but the tone of that first paragraph continues, and is the main thread of the novel.
Despite the scenes of extreme sex and torture they have an over-the-top ridiculous side to them, and there is always wit. If there's an allusion to the current regime, its well-disguised. Each time any comparison comes close, there is descent into farce. The scene in the baths at the end of the book being an example; a political assassination followed by the absurd, the Oprichniks taking a type of viagra drug and indulging in sex with themselves, as a group, attached by hierarchy.
This is tremendously entertaining. There's even a satire within the satire, or a pasquinade, as the translator Jamey Gambrell calls it - such a much better word.
With Putin and Russia in the news once again, I thought it was an appropriate time for this.
And if I had any doubt..
...the very same house where French ambassadors nested for nearly a century. The house has been occupied by the oprichnina since the famous events of summer 2021, when His Majesty publicly tore up the French ambassador’s credentials and sent the envoy packing, having enearthed his plot to foment rebellion.
This is a day in the life of an Oprichnik in the Moscow of 2028, where the Tsar is God, and once more on the throne, worshipped by a cowed nation. The Oprichniks were Ivan the Terrible's thugs, a decadent team of raping and torturing servicemen charged with policing interior threats, especially those posed by the nobility.
Andrei Danilovich Komiaga’s day begins in the first paragraph..
My mobilov awakens me: One crack of the whip – a scream. Two – a moan. Three – the death rattle. Poyarok recorded it in the Secret Department, where they were torturing the Far Eastern general. It could even wake a corpse.
There's a little science fiction to proceedings, with the 'mobilovs' (a sort of video phone bubble) and Mercedovs (super fast cars made in China), but the tone of that first paragraph continues, and is the main thread of the novel.
Despite the scenes of extreme sex and torture they have an over-the-top ridiculous side to them, and there is always wit. If there's an allusion to the current regime, its well-disguised. Each time any comparison comes close, there is descent into farce. The scene in the baths at the end of the book being an example; a political assassination followed by the absurd, the Oprichniks taking a type of viagra drug and indulging in sex with themselves, as a group, attached by hierarchy.
This is tremendously entertaining. There's even a satire within the satire, or a pasquinade, as the translator Jamey Gambrell calls it - such a much better word.
We’ll live, we’ll live. And we’ll let others live as well. A passionate, heroic, government life. Important. We have to serve the great ideal. We must live to spite the bastards, to rejoice in Russia….And as long as the oprichniks are alive, Russia will be alive.
September 25, 2022
In Wikipedia ist in Sorokins Eintrag vermerkt, er könne das gegenwärtige Russland nur noch mit den Mitteln der Satire abbilden. Genau das machte er bei diesem 2005 entstandenen und 2006 veröffentlichten Buch. Mir schien, dass der Autor mit gehöriger Frustration und viel Wut eine Vision Russlands entwirft, die den Menschen im Land einen Zerrspiegel oder ein Vergrößerungsglas vorhält und die Absurditäten der Realität in gehöriger Weise überspitzt. Vieles, was mir erst in den letzten Monaten richtig klar geworden ist, lässt sich hier schon deutlich ablesen, wie die ungeheure Macht der Geheimorganisation, die Toxizität männlicher Herrschaft mit der Verkörperung von Kraft und Potenz, die Abkehr vom Westen und Hinwendung nach China, die Macht, die die Gasversorgung darstellt, die Scheinheiligkeit bei der neuen Bedeutung der Kirchen, die Doppelmoral der Gesellschaft bis hin zur Missachtung von Juden und anderen Bevölkerungsgruppen.
Erzählt wird, wie der Titel schon ankündigt, der Tagesablauf eines Opritschniks, der etwa einem Geheimdienstler gleichzusetzen ist, aus dessen Sicht. Dabei erfahren wir kaum etwas über das frühere Leben des Protagonisten, können den Charakter nur wenig erkennen. Die Situation im Land (es soll 2027 spielen) hat sich verändert und ähnelt den Gegebenheiten unter Iwan dem Schrecklichen unter Hinzufügung von chinesischer Hochtechnologie, aber wie es dazu kam, bleibt unklar. Auch die Sprache hat sich verändert, ob mit Ausdrücken wie „Faustkeil“ für das Mobiltelefon eine Art Neusprech ala Orwell gemeint sein sollte oder die Rückbesinnung auf die Tradition so weit ging, dass für moderne Gegenstände russische Namen gewählt werden mussten, erschloss sich mir ebenfalls nicht.
Ich fand das Buch ganz unterhaltsam, soweit man Gewalt und Sexorgien unterhaltsam finden kann, mochte die überbordende Fantasie des Autors, habe aber aus der Geschichte keine neuen Erkenntnisse gezogen. Es ist wahrscheinlich nicht das beste Buch Sorokins, ein den Staat provozierendes und entlarvendes ist es aber allemal.
Erzählt wird, wie der Titel schon ankündigt, der Tagesablauf eines Opritschniks, der etwa einem Geheimdienstler gleichzusetzen ist, aus dessen Sicht. Dabei erfahren wir kaum etwas über das frühere Leben des Protagonisten, können den Charakter nur wenig erkennen. Die Situation im Land (es soll 2027 spielen) hat sich verändert und ähnelt den Gegebenheiten unter Iwan dem Schrecklichen unter Hinzufügung von chinesischer Hochtechnologie, aber wie es dazu kam, bleibt unklar. Auch die Sprache hat sich verändert, ob mit Ausdrücken wie „Faustkeil“ für das Mobiltelefon eine Art Neusprech ala Orwell gemeint sein sollte oder die Rückbesinnung auf die Tradition so weit ging, dass für moderne Gegenstände russische Namen gewählt werden mussten, erschloss sich mir ebenfalls nicht.
Ich fand das Buch ganz unterhaltsam, soweit man Gewalt und Sexorgien unterhaltsam finden kann, mochte die überbordende Fantasie des Autors, habe aber aus der Geschichte keine neuen Erkenntnisse gezogen. Es ist wahrscheinlich nicht das beste Buch Sorokins, ein den Staat provozierendes und entlarvendes ist es aber allemal.
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