Red Pyramid and Other Stories (Paperback)
Provocative, hilarious, and tender stories about sex, violence, politics from one of the greatest Russian writers of the post-Soviet era.
Red Pyramid is a sort of “greatest hits” collection of short stories from across Vladimir Sorokin’s career, beginning with juvenilia like “The Pink Tuber,” composed with no expectation of either publication or readership; moving on to scatological conceptual texts like “An Obelisk”; then plunging into the more even-tempered, but still quite uncanny, delights of his post-Soviet work.
Stories like “A Month in Dachau” earn Sorokin his moniker as the “Russian De Sade,” while others, like “Timka,” are shockingly tender—despite their graphic depictions of mass shootings and anal sex.
This collection also contains the infamous “Nastya,” a story about a family cannibalizing its daughter on the eve of the twentieth century, for which Sorokin was nearly put on trial; “Horse Soup,” which was the first translation from the Russian to win an O’Henry Prize; as well as stories published in Anglophone magazines such as The New Yorker, n+1, Harper’s, and The Baffler to great acclaim.
Translated by Max Lawton with equal attention to chewiness and pop flair, Red Pyramid is introduced brilliantly, brutally, and as always, unexpectedly by Will Self. Red Pyramid is perhaps the best place to begin a dive into Sorokin’s arch detonation of Russian violence.
Red Pyramid is a sort of “greatest hits” collection of short stories from across Vladimir Sorokin’s career, beginning with juvenilia like “The Pink Tuber,” composed with no expectation of either publication or readership; moving on to scatological conceptual texts like “An Obelisk”; then plunging into the more even-tempered, but still quite uncanny, delights of his post-Soviet work.
Stories like “A Month in Dachau” earn Sorokin his moniker as the “Russian De Sade,” while others, like “Timka,” are shockingly tender—despite their graphic depictions of mass shootings and anal sex.
This collection also contains the infamous “Nastya,” a story about a family cannibalizing its daughter on the eve of the twentieth century, for which Sorokin was nearly put on trial; “Horse Soup,” which was the first translation from the Russian to win an O’Henry Prize; as well as stories published in Anglophone magazines such as The New Yorker, n+1, Harper’s, and The Baffler to great acclaim.
Translated by Max Lawton with equal attention to chewiness and pop flair, Red Pyramid is introduced brilliantly, brutally, and as always, unexpectedly by Will Self. Red Pyramid is perhaps the best place to begin a dive into Sorokin’s arch detonation of Russian violence.
Vladimir Sorokin is the author of numerous novels, plays, short stories, and film scripts. His work has been translated throughout the world. NYRB Classics published a translation of his first novel, The Queue, in 2008; a translation of a trio of his novels, The Ice Trilogy, in 2011; and a translation of his novel Telluria in 2022. In 2001, he received the Andrei Biely Award for outstanding contributions to Russian literature. He lives in Germany.
Max Lawton is a novelist, musician, and translator. He has translated several works by Vladimir Sorokin, including the NYRB Classics edition of Telluria. He lives in Los Angeles.
Will Self is a journalist, columnist, and author of more than two dozen books of fiction and nonfiction, including eleven novels. His most recent book is the collection Why Read: Selected Writings 2001-2021. He lives in the UK.
Max Lawton is a novelist, musician, and translator. He has translated several works by Vladimir Sorokin, including the NYRB Classics edition of Telluria. He lives in Los Angeles.
Will Self is a journalist, columnist, and author of more than two dozen books of fiction and nonfiction, including eleven novels. His most recent book is the collection Why Read: Selected Writings 2001-2021. He lives in the UK.