For Gary Shteyngart, Russia is a dead country

Gary Shteyngart, an American writer with Russian origins, has just published a satirical novel about Russia, Absurdistan. Interviewed buy Antonio Lozano, he takes a pessimistic view of his country. "Today Russia is nothing but a gigantic natural gas and oil supplier. It is a dead country. It has a very low birth rate for one thing. And yet in terms of culture, it has the best prose of the19th century, without which contemporary literature cannot be understood. ... When Absurdistan was published in Russia, I was called a traitor to the nation, on the Untied States' pay-roll, but at the same time, several critics said, 'We live in Absurdistan!' ... [Satire] has always been the best political weapon, since Jonathan Swift, and then Gogol, my reference. And it continues to be, with Vladimir Sorokin in Russia and George Saunders and others in the United States."

» to the homepage (external link, La Vanguardia)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Literature, » Russia
All available articles from » Gary Shteyngart