Darius Frasure
David Bristow
David Hopkins
David Lowery
David Shook
Dennis Humphries
Don & Donna Goertz
Ed Nawotka
Elizabeth Caplice
Erin Baker
Ethan Segal
Fiona Schlachter
Frank Merlino
George Henson
Gino Palencia
Grace Kenney
Greg McConeghy
Horatiu Matei
Jacob Siefring
Jacob Silverman
Jacobo Luna
James Crates
Jamie Richards
Jane Owen
Jane Watson
Jeanne Milazzo
Jeff Whittington
Jennifer Smart
Jeremy Hughes
Joe Milazzo
Joel Garza
John Harvell
Joshua Edwin
Julia Pashin
Justin Childress
Kaleigh Emerson
Katherine McGuire
Kimberly Alexander
Krista Nightengale
Laura Tamayo
Lauren Shekari
Linda Nell Evans
Lissa Dunlay
Lytton Smith
Mac Tull
Marcia Lynx Qualey
Margaret Terwey
Mari Mattingly
Mark Larson
Martha Gifford
Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk & Joshua Frenk
Matthew Rowe
Meaghan Corwin
Michael Holtmann
Mike Kaminsky
Naomi Firestone-Teeter
Neal Chuang
Nick Oxford
Nikki Gibson
Norma Pace
Patrick Brown
Peter McCambridge
Regina Imburgia
Shelby Vincent
Scot Roberts
Steven Norton
Susan B. Reese
Tess Lewis
Tim Kindseth
Todd Mostrog
Tom Bowden
Tony Fleo
Wendy Walker
Weston Monroe
Will Morrison
ALSO PUBLISHED IN ENGLISH BY MIKHAIL SHISHKIN:
Maidenhair
(translated by Marian Schwartz)
The Light and the Dark
(translated by Andrew Bromfield)
More praise for Mikhail Shishkin:
“Often sings with powerfully estranged, original observations… minutiae and grand philosophy collide on every page.”
“Shishkin is interested in what is most precious and singular in classic Russian fiction: the passionate inquiry into what, in Maidenhair, is called the ‘soul, quintessence, pollen.’”
“Mikhail Shishkin is the Ian McEwan of Russia. A prize-winning writer who enjoys stunning commercial and critical success…His latest novel [The Light and the Dark]… is striking proof that great Russian literature didn’t die with Dostoevsky.”
“[Shishkin] manages to engage Russia’s literary heritage while at the same time creating something new and altogether original.”
“Shishkin has been described as the heir apparent of the great Russian novelists, and indeed, there are times when he seems to have taken the best from each of them.”
“As an extraordinary prose stylist, Shishkin has license to be unconventional… Maidenhair is likely a work of genius.”
Copyright
2919 Commerce St. #159, Dallas, Texas 75226
Copyright © 2015 by Mikhail Shishkin
Published by arrangement with the author and the BGS Agency.
English translation copyrights:
“Calligraphy Lesson” © 2007 by Marian Schwartz
“The Half-Belt Overcoat” © 2012 by Leo Shtutin
“Of Saucepans and Star-Showers” © 2013 by Leo Shtutin
“Nabokov’s Inkblot” © 2014 by Mariya Bashkatova
“In a Boat Scratched on a Wall,” “The Blind Musician,” and “Language Saved” © 2015 by Marian Schwartz
“The Bell Tower of San Marco” © 2015 by Sylvia Maizell
Some stories were published previously:
“The Half-Belt Overcoat” in Read Russia: An Anthology of New Voices (May 2012)
“Calligraphy Lesson” in Words Without Borders (July 2007)
“Nabokov’s Inkblot” in New England Review (Volume 34, Nos. 3–4, 2014)
“Of Saucepans and Star-Showers” in Spolia (March 2013)
“In a Boat Scratched on a Wall” originally appeared in slightly different form as “Mikhail Shishkin: A revolution for Russia’s words” in the Independent (March 22, 2013)
First edition, 2015. All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-941920-02-2 (ebook)
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CONTROL NUMBER: 2015935163
The publication of this book was made possible with the support of the Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation’s Transcript program to support the translation of Russian literature.
Cover design & typesetting by Anna Zylicz • annazylicz.com
Text set in Bembo, a typeface modeled on typefaces cut by Francesco Griffo for Aldo Manuzio’s printing of De Aetna in 1495 in Venice.
Deep Vellum titles are published under the fiscal sponsorship of The Writer’s Garret, a nationally recognized nonprofit literary arts organization.
Distributed by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution.