#Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky

[elizabethanism]

“And yet the slightest attempt to convert any meaningful idea (*of one’s own*—this is the main thing) into words leads inevitably to the thesis: for pure thought, all human languages are foreigners.”

— Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky

(Countries That Don’t Exist, tr. Anthony Anemone)

#Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky #Words #Language #Idea

[sivavakkiyar]

And a series of tedious autumn boredoms when the sky sheds stars, clouds shed rain, trees shed leaves, and “I’s” shed themselves.

—-“Autobiography of a Corpse”, Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky

#Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky #literature

[dreams-of-mutiny]

Even dreams have the right to dream.

~ Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky

#Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky #quotes #dreams

[kaus-quietis]

The circus bookclub - The Letter Killer Club, by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky

There are some authors I simply cannot get enough of, and Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky is one of them. In this first ever edition of this new bookclub, here in the circus, I'll share with you my most recent read of him! And what more fitting title than The Letter Killer Club to introduce the bookclub, right?

Hello there! I'm the circus resident poltergeist, Eliott, managing this blog until Lav comes back. Here in the circus bookclub I share with you my most recent reads/amazing books I wish everyone would pick up one day!

Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky is an Ukrainian author born in 1887 in Kyiv, who died in Moscow in 1950. He wrote his works in russian language, and was little published in his lifetime: most of his works were published posthumously.

The Letter Killer Club is a short novel (approx. 100-150pages according to the publisher/language of translation) written in 1926. Its story revolves around the life of a Club, the Letter Killer Club, run by 7 individuals. The story starts when they welcome an 8th member, a writer intrigued by the peculiar people seeing each other once a week, in a quiet room lit by the fireplace.

In the Letter Killer Club, the members think that writing their ideas on paper would denature them. In their philosophy, ideas stay pure when they only stay to this stage: ideas. Every week, the members of the club tell each other their book ideas, scenarios, without ever writting them on paper. Each week, one member speaks. This is how the seven chapters of this book are organized, by the story of one individual, followed or interrupted by the occasionnal remarks or conversations around it (reminding me of Marguerite de Navarre's Heptameron, if some of you are familiar with french late medieval literature here). In these stories, Krzhizhanovsky seems to always explore a philosophical thought, or ideas about literature and what it is to be a writer. This is, according to me, part of what makes this book so interesting to read.

These stories are strange, almost metaphysical at times, funny and tragic. I will not go in details about them so you can fully enjoy this book, should you decide to read it, but what striked me in The Letter Killer Club is how well balanced Krzhizhanovsky's writing was, between telling the stories and the characters of the Club themselves. With very few elements, Krzhizhanovsky succeeds in creating a particular atmosphere, one that engulfs you and makes you feel like you are seated there, amongst them, almost as a 9th member of this strange reunion.

Krzhizhanovsky is an incredible writer. These themes of the idea vs. writing it, putting it on paper, what it is to write, to have ideas, to be a writer, are extremely present in most of his works, but they seem to be particularly explored in this one. During his lifetime, while he wasn't much published, Krzhizhanovsky was very present in literary circles, and therefore certainly involved in many philosophical discussions of what it meant to be a writer at that time. This shows in his works, and he explores these questions in a very clever way.

Krzhizhanovsky's writing is demanding and his ideas need some thinking and time to be well reflected upon, but I believe his works are extremely interesting if you ever want to explore more of the literature of his time. Often using fantastic elements or situations to convey his ideas, his writing is a clever mix of fantastic, abstract, absurd and reflection on writing itself.

I hope this made you curious about this author's works! Krzhizhanovsky has written many short stories as well, and these are also great if you ever want to give a chance to reading his writing.

Sources : his wikipedia page for the bio / goodreads for the english edition of the letter killer club

#circusghost #putting up the chairs in the cathedral bringing books to the table #have you missed these bookclub sessions? i certainly did #not only is that insightful for me to write but it also makes sure i actually concentrate enough on what i read #when you read around a hundred books a year this helps a lot #the letter killer club is the 58th book i've read this year (i start my book year in july) so i still have a long way to go #i'm really happy i got to share Krzhizhanovsky's books with you today! #if you ever feel like it give him a shot #he is worth it #sigizmund krzhizhanovsky #the letter killer club #there is a lot to say about him but i always keep these bookclub sessions short so it's #1/ easier for me to write #2/ more accessible to anyone #thecircusbookclub #tagging this as the bookclub so it's easier to find if i ever make more #which i certainly will #look Lav it's happening i set my little circus bookclub on your blog #I loved the sound of Saint-Petersburg's bookclub as well but that was an era and we have to move on from it don't we #from Saint-Petersburg to the Circus #what a trip #I hope you liked this first session!!! let me know your impressions if you want to!

[kaggsy59]

"I'm not on good terms with the present day, but posterity loves me." #SigizmundKrzhizhanovsky @ColumbiaUP @RusLibrary #ReadIndies

For our #ReadIndies a year ago, I was delighted to be able to revisit one of my favourite authors in translation, Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky. I think I’ve written about everything of his which has been translated into English, mainly in volumes from NYRB Classics, translated by the wonderful Joanne Turnbull with Nikolai Formazov, and his writing is truly unique. However, in 2022 Columbia University…

View On WordPress

#readindies #columbia university press #Russian Library #Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky #stravaging strange

[talmudicdeer]

🦌About to become Tumblr's *only* Sigizmund Khrzhizhanovsky poster and that's a niche I'm more than happy to fill all by myself

#sigizmund krzhizhanovsky

[slutforwings]

books i read in 2023 that i recommend :) mainly because i am trying to find new books to read in the 'book rec' tag and none of these people give summaries so I shall bravely do it instead for others!

wrong place wrong time - gillian mcallister (mystery)

Blurb: a woman sees her son killing someone in front of her, then wakes up the next morning only to realise it's the day before the murder. she keeps traveling back in time, unraveling the reason for the murder and trying to stop it along the way Review: i misread the back and thought it was gonna be a time loop but this was even better actually. i fucking devoured this book it was so compelling. i tend to devour mystery books like these regardless of their well-writtenness but this was genuinely really good and tied up everything neatly at the end.

autobiography of a corpse - sigizmund krzhizhanovsky (short stories)

Blurb: bunch of fantastical short stories like about the people living in your pupil, a society that deals in anger and malcontent, a guy trying to bite his elbow Review: this book made me realise i love short stories, but then it turned out i mainly love THIS GUY'S short stories. they were just that good. slavic writers are built different

the secret history - donna tartt (psychological fiction)

Blurb: cult group of pretentious college kids study greek and turn it into a personality trait. also theyre gonna conspire to kill one of their own and then try to hide it Review: all of these characters are cunts and i love them so much. do not believe the dark academia girlies peddling this book, these people are stupid and pretentious and morally corrupt and theyre SO MUCH FUN!! the internal monologues are fantastic, i want to study Dick's brain. its a very Long book and absolutely takes its time and yet it does not feel like any parts are really unnecessary. really good.

this is how you lose the time war - amal el-mohtar & max gladstone (sci-fi)

Blurb: two time travelers from opposing agencies each have a mission (the mission involves historic meddling through time travel but is honestly not as important) and keep encountering each other and leaving letters to taunt, falling in love throughout the story Review: listen i saw that tweet 'do not look up anything about this book and just read it' and i did and i had zero regrets. i bought the paperback after reading the ebook bc it was just that good. beautiful prose, fantastic worldbuilding that is sometimes only hinted at but everything made me go !!! can you tell i love time travel.

notes on an execution - danya kukafka (pyschological fiction)

Blurb: serial killer on death row recounts his life, as well as pov of the police officer that investigated the cases and got him in jail + pov's of the family of the victims Review: incredible story about family, morality and love. raises a lot of questions about criminals and 'evil' and does not answer them because that's the whole point. insane quotes too. also very vivid storytelling in the way that i could picture all the locations perfectly despite them not being described in detail. i think it was due to the intense Vibe

bunny - mona awad (uh. horror?)

Blurb: um. goth/'not like other girls' girl gets indoctrinated into joins a cult group of really girly girls that all call each other bunny and have kind of weird rituals meetings. Review: listen. i hate when people do this to me but. just read it. if you're a fan of magical realism and cult-y things, you're in for a treat. this book made me bike home in a daze. i love stream of consciousness where you as the reader are just as lost as the character! i love you bunny!

instructions for a heatwave - maggie o'farrel (fiction)

Blurb: a pensioned father leaves the house for his newspaper and then doesnt return. all the children are gathered by the mother to try and figure out what the fuck happened. Review: not so much a 'hey where'd he go' as it is a rumination on family and unconditional love. ofc theres some family secrets that get revealed but i found it more interesting to watch the family dynamic and the changes the secrets brought to it. bittersweet :)

#book tag #book recs #book review #book rec

[fuffette]

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami Invisibility: A Manifesto by Audrey Szasz Bunny by Mona Awad Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. The Sentence by Louise Erdrich Her Body and Other Parties: Stories by Carmen Maria Machado The Encyclopedia of the Dead by Danilo Kiš One Hundred Shadows by Jungeun Hwang Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter The Castle of Crossed Destinies by Italo Calvino The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami Amrita by Banana Yoshimoto Whale by Myeong-Kwan Cheon The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone by Audrey Burges The Probable Future by Alice Hoffman Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman by Angela Carter The Melancholy of Resistance by László Krasznahorkai Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh The Rings of Saturn by W.G. Sebald The Overstory by Richard Powers Poison by Kathryn Harrison Bitter Orange by Fuller, Claire We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Fowler, Karen Joy The Edible Woman by Atwood, Margaret A School for Fools by Sokolov, Sasha Ferdydurke by Gombrowicz, Witold The Iliac Crest by Rivera Garza, Cristina Paris Peasant by Aragon, Louis The Making of a Marchioness by Burnett, Frances Hodgson Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Semple, Maria Hell by Barbusse, Henri The Honk and Holler Opening Soon by Letts, Billie Find Me by Berg, Laura van den * Big Swiss by Beagin, Jen Mariana by Dickens, Monica The Lime Works by Bernhard, Thomas Dead Souls by Gogol, Nikolai Gargoyles by Bernhard, Thomas The Pachinko Parlour by Dusapin, Elisa Shua Lolly Willowes by Warner, Sylvia Townsend Rebecca by du Maurier, Daphne The Hearing Trumpet by Carrington, Leonora Jane Eyre by Brontë, Charlotte The Savage Detectives by Bolaño, Roberto Solitude: A Novel of Catalonia by Català, Víctor Almond by Sohn Won-Pyung My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Moshfegh, Ottessa Heaven by Kawakami, Mieko Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-joo Convenience Store Woman by Murata, Sayaka Iza's Ballad by Szabó, Magda The Door by Szabó, Magda Phantom Limb by Berry, Lucinda The Night Journal by Crook, Elizabeth Faces in the Water by Frame, Janet Three Apples Fell from the Sky by Abgaryan, Narine The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine by Bronsky, Alina Eileen by Moshfegh, Ottessa I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home by Moore, Lorrie The Stationery Shop by Kamali, Marjan Breasts and Eggs by Kawakami, Mieko Milkman by Burns, Anna The Maid by Prose, Nita The Guest by Cline, Emma Hang the Moon by Walls, Jeannette The Secret of Ventriloquism by Padgett, Jon The Salt Line by Jones, Holly Goddard Perdido Street Station by Miéville, China The Accursed by Oates, Joyce Carol Occupy Me by Sullivan, Tricia Poison Study by Snyder, Maria V. The Last Heir to Blackwood Library by Fox, Hester Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Fawcett, Heather Skylark by Kosztolányi, Dezső Blue of Noon by Bataille, Georges Ruth Hall and Other Writings by Fern, Fanny The Vegetarian by Han Kang Nadja by Breton, André Exquisite Corpse by Brite, Poppy Z. Ice by Kavan, Anna Kallocain by Boye, Karin Palimpsest by Valente, Catherynne M. Elena Knows by Piñeiro, Claudia Landor's Tower: Or Imaginary Conversations by Sinclair, Iain The Birthday Party by Mauvignier, Laurent The Magnolia Palace by Davis, Fiona Memories of the Future by Krzhizhanovsky, Sigizmund Under a Glass Bell by Nin, Anaïs Sugar by McFadden, Bernice L. Vintage Cisneros by Cisneros, Sandra Raising Hope by Willard, Katie Chodleros de Laclos Les Liasions Dangereuses by Various Daddy-Long-Legs by Webster, Jean Local Anaesthetic by Grass, Günter Don't Stop the Carnival by Wouk, Herman Confessions of Felix Krull by Mann, Thomas The House of Mirth by Wharton, Edith Radiant Terminus by Volodine, Antoine Shanghai Girls by See, Lisa The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov, Mikhail (Translator: Mirra Ginsburg) Owlish by Tse, Dorothy

undue influence by anita brookner slip of a fish by amy arnold beside myself by ann morgan blue ticket by sophie mackintosh nostalgia by mircea cartarescu I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself by Crane, Marisa

#saved

[ithinkheknowss]

Annie's 2023 books

also links to goodreads and my newly-created storygraph !

The Chimes by Charles Dickens; 4/5 stars

The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens; 4/5 stars

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien; 5/5 stars

Voice of the Fire by Alan Moore; 5/5 stars

The Color Purple by Alice Walker; 5/5 stars

Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz; 4/5 stars

Nemesis Games (The Expanse #5) by James S.A. Corey; 4.5/5 stars

Babylon's Ashes (The Expanse #6) by James S.A. Corey; 3.5/5 stars

The Dirty Dust: Cré na Cille by Máirtín Ó Cadhain, 4/5 stars

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, 5/5 stars

Children of Dune (Dune #3) by Frank Herbert; 5/5 stars

Out by Natsuo Kirino; 3/5 stars

Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood; 4/5 stars

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick; 3/5 stars

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland; 3/5 stars

Doctor Who: Choose the Future: Terror Moon by Trevor Baxendale; 2/5 stars

Heroes and Villains by Angela Carter; 4.5/5 stars

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty; 3.5/5 stars

There There by Tommy Orange; 5/5 stars

V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd; 4/5 stars

Torto Arado by Itamar Vieira Junior; 4/5 stars

All the Murmuring Bones by A.G. Slatter; 4/5 stars

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov; 5/5 stars

Doom Patrol Vol. 5: Magic Bus by Grant Morrison; 5/5 stars

Memories of the Future by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky; 4/5 stars

Doom Patrol Vol. 6: Planet Love by Grant Morrison; 4/5 stars

Doom Force #1 by Grant Morrison; 3/5 stars

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy; 4/5 stars

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley; 3.5/5 stars

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; 5/5 stars

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia; 4/5 stars

Collected Short Stories by Heinrich Böll; 4/5 stars

Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi; 4/5 stars

The Viy by Nikolai Gogol; 4/5 stars

The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe; 3/5 stars

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1) by Rick Riordan; 5/5 stars

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid; 2/5 stars

Persepolis Rising (The Expanse #7) by James S.A. Corey; 3/5 stars

Down the Rabbit Hole by Juan Pablo Villalobos; 4/5 stars

Sourcery by Terry Pratchett; 3/5 stars

The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #2) by Rick Riordan; 5/5 stars

#2023 books #annie talks

[cities]

Distinctions

Science is a systematic mystery-destroyer: it demystifies mysteries by means of discoveries; it attempts to penetrate the impenetrable; “unknowns” are allowed into its equations only in order to be solved.

Art is the enmystification of things: the ability not to know the unknown; it takes a thing that has been seen through and through, that has turned without stint on optic axes, and removes it to the world of mysteriousnesses; it takes a thing long since solved, “clear in itself,” accessible—and resolves it into a mystery, into a self-contained thing-in-itself; where there was access, now there is none.

Before the scientist and the poet stands a globe: with white splotches—unpopulated by letters, unsullied by line or color—at the poles. Eyeing the splotches, the scientist says: when will these too be outlined? The poet: why is the globe covered with lines? Why aren't there more undiscovered lands?

—from 'Argo and Ergo', Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky

Translated by Joanne Turnbull

#nl #krzhizhanovsky

[vanjrsstuff]

2022 Russian Literature Reads

Finished: 17 books

TRANSLATING GREAT RUSSIAN LITERATURE by Cathy McAteer. A look at the translators with Penguin books from the mid 1900s to about 2000.

ROADSIDE PICNIC by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky . Not sure of translator. A sci-fi classic that left me wanting more.

THE QUEUE by V Sorokin. This may have worked in Russian or it may have been good had one lived in the Soviet Union, but falls flat to me.

WOE FROM WHIT: A verse comedy in four acts by Griboyedov (translated by Betsy Hulick). A reported classic whose quips have infiltrated the Russian language. Like most poetry much is lost in translation and my lack of knowledge of Russian hinders my appreciation.

A RED FLOWER by V Garshin at least my second reading.

THE ADOLESCENT by Dostoevsky My second read of a new translation. Did it with the r/Dostoevsky reading group

MY LIFE by Leon Trotsky. Typical autobiography (ie I did nothing wrong)

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A CORPSE by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky, translated by J Turnbull. Collection of short stories. I gave 4 stars on goodreads (I try to make 5 stars very rare).

TOLSTOY, RASPUTIN, OTHERS AND ME by Teffi. Meh

WHAT IS ART? by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Aylmer Maude. A one star read-finished just because who the author was.

ENVY by Yury Olesha. at best meh. At least my second read.

TIME OF TROUBLES: The Diary of Iurri Vladimirovich Got'e. Surprisingly very interesting. Four stars.

ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF IVAN DENISOVICH by Solzhenitsyn. I love Solzhenitsyn, but not this book to be honest. Second or third re-read.

A HERO OF OUR TIME by Mikhail Lermontov, translated by Nabokov(s). Excellent as long as you don't try to make the parts a coherent story, but as sketches of a protagonist.

SOLZHENITSYN, TVARDOVSKY, AND NOVY MIR by Vladimir Lakshin. Background to an Solzhenitsyn and his literary battles and a testament to his larger than life ego. I got it free from a nephew who knew I like Solzhenitsyn. Not one to re-read.

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT: A new translation by Dostoevsky, translated by Michael Katz. Excellent. First re-read of C&P. Been 15 plus years (too long!)

Current readings/unfinished:

WHAT IS TO BE DONE? by Chernyshevsky, translated by M. Katz. Good background on the 19th century ideas and relates to or reacts to Turgenev and Dostoevsky. Half way done and I am not impressed. To be honest I am disgusted with the implications of his philosophies and may DNF this one.

MARCH 1917: THE RED WHEEL, NODE III, BOOK 3 by Solzhenitsyn, translated by Marian Schwartz. Probably will not finish before the year ends. A continuation of the excellent (IMO) Red Wheel epic on the Russian revolution. See earlier post

DOSTOEVSKY: THE SEEDS OF REVOLT, 1821-1849 by Joseph Frank. Long way to go with this one, but good through the first 100 pages or so.

#books and literature #russian literature

[elizabethanism]

“For a poet, for instance, the name, the appellation of a thing—that is the thing, that real material, every sound and half sound in which is for him bethinged; whereas the actual ‘things’ are for him just glints on a bubble...”

Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky

[+] “...only when those thing-glints disappear, fall away from life, do the things’ names begin to long for their things—and make pilgrimages to the Land of Nots.”

— from “Postmark: Moscow,” in Autobiography of a Corpse p. 193

#Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky #Things #Name

[sivavakkiyar]

from ‘Autobiography of a Corpse’ by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky

#sigizmund krizhzhanovsky #weird literature #sorry for the thumb maybe I’ll fix it later when I have the book #tw: suicide

[dreams-of-mutiny]

Hiding my half existence behind the opaque walls of my skull, concealing it like a shameful disease, I did not consider the simple fact that the same thing could be occurring under other skullcaps, in other locked rooms.

~ Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky

#Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky #quotes

[fettesans]

Top, photograph by Yara Nardi, Pope Francis presides over a moment of prayer on the sagrato of St Peters Basilica, March 27, 2020. Via. Bottom, screen capture from Final Fantasy VII Remake, showing the gettyimages watermarked painting by John Crowther, Ludgate Circus, London, 1881, posted on Twitter by SchrodingersBBSeal, December 13, 2022.

--

Gluttonously, I am waiting for God.

Arthur Rimbaud, from A Season in Hell, 1873. Via.

--

We fear another man’s existence the way we fear apparitions, and only very rarely, when people glimpse each other in the gloaming, do we say of them: They’re in love. No wonder lovers seek out a nighttime hour, the better to envision each other, an hour when ghosts are abroad. It is amusing that the most optimistic of all philosophers, Leibniz, could see only a world of discrete monads, of ontological solitudes, none of which has windows. If one tries to be more optimistic than the optimist and avow that souls have windows and the ability to open them, then those windows and that ability will turn out to be nailed shut and boarded up as in an abandoned house. People-monads, too, have a bad name: They are full of ghosts. The most frightening of these is man.

Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky, from Autobiography of a Corpse, 1925. Via.

#diptych #quotes #safe new world

[kaggsy59]

"...memories crumble into dust." #simonedebeauvoir #misunderstandinginmoscow

It’s always a cause for great delight when a new book comes out from a favourite author; and even more so when that writer is no longer with us. Recent years have seen a rash of newly-translated works by some of my best-loved names, like Mishima and Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky; and when you’ve read everything already available in English by someone, those new books are pure joy. Last year saw the…

View On WordPress