{"product_id":"envy-9781590170861","title":"Envy","description":"A NEW YORK REVIEW BOOKS ORIGINAL \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOne of the delights of Russian literature, a tour de force that has been compared to the best of Nabokov and Bulgakov, Yuri Olesha's novella Envy brings together cutting social satire, slapstick humor, and a wild visionary streak. Andrei is a model Soviet citizen, a swaggeringly self-satisfied mogul of the food industry who intends to revolutionize modern life with mass-produced sausage. Nikolai is a loser. Finding him drunk in the gutter, Andrei gives him a bed for the night and a job as a gofer. Nikolai takes what he can, but that doesn't mean he's grateful. Griping, sulking, grovelingly abject, he despises everything Andrei believes in, even if he envies him his every breath. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eProducer and sponger, insider and outcast, master and man fight back and forth in the pages of Olesha's anarchic comedy. It is a contest of wills in which nothing is sure except the incorrigible human heart. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMarian Schwartz's new English translation of \u003ci\u003eEnvy\u003c\/i\u003e brilliantly captures the energy of Olesha's masterpiece.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eYuri Olesha\u003c\/b\u003e (1899-1960), the son of an impoverished land-owner who spent his days playing cards, grew up in Odessa, a lively multicultural city whose literary scene also included Isaac Babel. Olesha made his name as a writer with \u003ci\u003eThree Fat Men, \u003c\/i\u003e a proletarian fairy tale, and had an even greater success with \u003ci\u003eEnvy\u003c\/i\u003ein 1927. Soon, however, the ambiguous nature of the novella's depiction of the new revolutionary era led to complaints from high, followed by the collapse of his career and the disappearance of his books. In 1934, Olesha addressed the First Congress of Soviet Writers, arguing that a writer should be allowed the freedom to choose his own style and themes. For the rest of his life he wrote very little. A memoir of his youth, \u003ci\u003eNo Day Without a Line, \u003c\/i\u003e appeared posthumously. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eKen Kalfus\u003c\/b\u003e's most recent book is a novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Commissariat of Enlightenment.\u003c\/i\u003e He is also the author of two short story collections, \u003ci\u003eThirst\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003ePu-239 and Other Russian Fantasies\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eMarian Schwartz\u003c\/b\u003e has been translating Russian fiction and nonfiction for over thirty years. Her work includes Edvard Radzinsky's \u003ci\u003eThe Last Tsar\u003c\/i\u003e, Yuri Olesha's \u003ci\u003eEnvy\u003c\/i\u003e, and many works by Nina Berberova.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"New York Review of Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50505327542546,"sku":"9781590170861","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_ac1d8e17-aa96-40ca-9ea9-b4aecb547782.jpg?v=1730837790","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/envy-9781590170861","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}