Club Meeting And Dinner With Modern Russian Author Victor Erofeev
April 25th, 2014, Friday
On 25 April 2014 (Friday), the members, partners and friends of the Reform Union Club met in Triaditsa 1 Hall of Grand Hotel Sofia with Victor Erofeev – one of the most significant avant-garde Russian writers.
Victor Erofeev is one of the most widely read modern Russian writers in the West. His novels “Russian Beauty” (1990), “Encyclopaedia of the Russian Soul” (1999) and “The Good Stalin” (2004) have become international best sellers.
In his latest book, “Akimudy”, Erofeyev describes events which forestall the recent events in Crimea. At the beginning of the meeting, the writer read a couple of selected passages from the book to stir the curiosity of the assembly and lead them into an exceedingly interesting and friendly discussion. The members of the Club asked many questions and the writer shared not only his views on the future development of Russia’s governance but also some of his fond memories, quite a few of which were nostalgically witty and connected with figures such as Reagan, Gorbachev and Putin.
The writer promised that when he comes again for the premiere of the Bulgarian translation of “Akimudy” he would give a special presentation of the book before his new friends from the Reform Union Club.
Here is a short presentation of the renowned writer:
Victor Erofeev (born in 1947) is a brilliant literary essayist, one of the most widely read modern Russian writers in the West, writer and presenter of the TV programme “Apokrif” and the Radio Liberty programme “Encyclopaedia of the Russian Soul”. He was born in the family of a Russian diplomat, Stalin’s French interpreter and Molotov’s assistant. He spent a part of his childhood in Paris. His doctorate’s thesis “Dostoevsky and French Existentialism” was published as a separate book in the USA in 1991. As one of the organisers and participants in the famous self-published almanac “Metropol”, he was not allowed to publish his works in his home country until 1988. During those years, his works were published only abroad. In 1989, his collection of short stories “Anna’s Body: The End of Russian Avant-Garde” was published. His novels “Russian Beauty”, which has been translated into 34 languages (1990), “Encyclopaedia of the Russian Soul” (1999) and “The Good Stalin” (2004) have become international best sellers. Composer Alfred Schnittke used his story “Life with an Idiot” to write the music for his opera of the same name. This work has long ago evolved into something more than simply a scandalous story. Together with the opera and the film it continues to gain an ever-growing audience across the globe. The story of the life and love of an ordinary man and idiot has become one of the most notable phenomena in the Russian avant-garde.
In 2006 Victor Erofeev received the French Chevalier of Legion of Honour title “For his contribution to the arts and letters”.
