{"product_id":"33-moments-of-happiness-st-petersburg-stories-9780375700040","title":"33 Moments of Happiness: St. Petersburg Stories","description":"An intriguing, fabulously bizarre debut collection of short stories by prize-winning German writer Ingo Schulze, author of \u003cb\u003eSimple Stories\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThese thirty-three macabre, often comical short pieces revolve around moments of odd bliss-moments seized by characters who have found ways to conquer the bleakness of everyday life in the chaotic world of post-communist Russia. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePeopled by Mafia gunmen, desperate young prostitutes, bewildered foreign businessmen, and even a trio of hungry devils, the stories are by turns tragic and bleakly funny. From a sly retelling of the legend of St. Nicholas featuring a rich American named Nick, to a lavish gourmet feast in which the young female cook ends up as the main dish, these stories are above all playful and even surreal-and many of them are masterful tributes to Russian writers from Gogol to Nabokov. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTranslated by John E. Woods.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIngo Schulze, born in Dresden in 1962, studied classical philology at the University of Jena. He worked as the dramaturg at the Altenburg Theater until 1990, and then became a newspaper editor, a job that took him to St. Petersburg for six months in 1993. Since then he has lived in Berlin. His first book, \u003cb\u003e33 Moments of Happiness\u003c\/b\u003e has won both the prestigious D?blin Prize and the Willner Prize for Literature. Three of the stories in this collection have recently appeared in The New Yorker.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50844402024722,"sku":"9780375700040","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_41c72ddd-84c0-4e92-a04d-4066b6870f2e.jpg?v=1737318965","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/33-moments-of-happiness-st-petersburg-stories-9780375700040","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}