The Commissariat of Enlightenment: A Novel

by Ken Kalfus

Overview

Russia, 1910. Leo Tolstoy lies dying in Astapovo, a remote railway station. Members of the press from around the world have descended upon this sleepy hamlet to record his passing for a public suddenly ravenous for celebrity news. They have been joined by a film company whose cinematographer, Nikolai Gribshin, is capturing the extraordinary scene and learning how to wield his camera as a political tool. At this historic moment he comes across two men -- the scientist, Professor Vorobev, and the revolutionist, Joseph Stalin -- who have radical, mysterious plans for the future. Soon they will accompany him on a long, cold march through an era of brutality and absurdity. The Commissariat of Enlightenment is a mesmerizing novel of ideas that brilliantly links the tragedy and comedy of the Russian Revolution with the global empire of images that occupies our imaginations today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060501396
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	02/03/2004
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.68(d)

About the Author

ken kalfus is the author of a novel, The Commissariat of Enlightenment, and the short story collections Thirst, which won the Salon Book Award, and Pu-239 and Other Russian Fantasies, which was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award.

Hometown:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Date of Birth:

April 9, 1954

Place of Birth:

Bronx, New York

Education:

The New School for Social Research, Sarah Lawrence College, New York University

What People are Saying About This

Andrea Barrett

“Inventive, unusual, humorous, ... deeply intelligent, The Commissariat of Enlightenment beautifully illuminates the hazardous powers of image, icon, and relic.”

Jonathan Franzen

“Kalfus is an ironist in the best late-modern Central European style: wry, humane, precise, and beautifully smitten with ideas.”

Editorial Reviews

“Inventive, unusual, humorous, ... deeply intelligent, The Commissariat of Enlightenment beautifully illuminates the hazardous powers of image, icon, and relic.” — Andrea Barrett

“Brilliant ... Inventive ... Gogol is probably tearing his hair out, wishing he’d dreamed this up.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Kalfus is an ironist in the best late-modern Central European style: wry, humane, precise, and beautifully smitten with ideas.” — Jonathan Franzen

“Unforgettable...the story exhibits all the vigorous intelligence and vision readers have come to expect from Kalfus.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Glitteringly original. . . . An intricate, harrowing, and, yes, dangerous first novel that sets out to capture the dawn of the 20th century in Bolshevik Russia.” — Esquire

“Kalfus’s book is absorbing, intelligent, witty and wry...A fable that tells the story of the 20th century.” — London Times

From the Publisher

Glitteringly original. . . . An intricate, harrowing, and, yes, dangerous first novel that sets out to capture the dawn of the 20th century in Bolshevik Russia.

Esquire

Kalfus is an ironist in the best late-modern Central European style: wry, humane, precise, and beautifully smitten with ideas.

Jonathan Franzen

Kalfus’s book is absorbing, intelligent, witty and wry...A fable that tells the story of the 20th century.

London Times

Inventive, unusual, humorous, ... deeply intelligent, The Commissariat of Enlightenment beautifully illuminates the hazardous powers of image, icon, and relic.

Andrea Barrett

Kalfus’s book is absorbing, intelligent, witty and wry...A fable that tells the story of the 20th century.

London Times