The Long Song of Tchaikovsky Street:
A Russian Adventure
Translated by Paul Evans
Overview
In 1988, at the age of 26, Pieter Waterdrinker was at home in the Netherlands one day when a man knocked on his door and asked him to smuggle a shipment of bibles into the USSR. The resulting adventure would lead to a lifelong journey into Russia and its history.
Waterdrinker would eventually find himself living in Saint Petersburg, with his Russian wife and three cats, on a street which a hundred years earlier had been the epicentre of the 1917 Russian Revolution. In The Long Song of Tchaikovsky Street he tells its story, from the fall of the Tsar to the collapse of the USSR, blending history with memoir to create an ode to the divided soul of Russia and an unputdownable account of his own struggles with life, literature and love.
“Words by Waterdrinker are as amazing as a superior circus.”
—Elsevier
“How evocatively Waterdrinker can write! A hundred years after the Russian Revolution, he makes this violent period of history shine once again.”
—Zin
Details
- Format
- Size
- Extent
- ISBN
- RRP
- Pub date
- Rights held
- Hardback
- 6in x 9.2in
- 416 pages
- 9781950354887
- USD$30.00
- 5 April 2022
- World English
Categories
Praise
“In this compelling memoir … Waterdrinker recounts the awful and at the same time great decades that gave Russians a radically redefined role on the world stage … An intensely personal perspective on geopolitical transformation.”
“[Waterdrinker] interweaves memoir and history in this impressionistic account of Russia from the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution to the present day … [he] incisively captures the beauty and terror of his adopted country … Russophiles will savor this iconoclastic portrait of modern Russia.”
About the Author
Pieter Waterdrinker (born 1961, Haarlem) is one of the most successful novelists in contemporary Dutch literature, praised for his compelling voice. He studied Russian at the University of Amsterdam, and was a long-time correspondent at the leading Dutch daily De Telegraaf. His literary work has often been translated and longlisted for awards, and his last novel The Rat of Amsterdam is a critically acclaimed bestseller. He lives between Saint Petersburg and the South of France.
Translator
Paul Evans is a Welsh poet and writer. He has published poetry in Britain and Holland, and translations of Dutch poetry, drama, and fiction with Faber and Seren. His translated plays have been performed at The Old Vic and The Guggenheim. His latest poetry collection is Grand Larcenies (Carcanet, 2021).
