Reviews

Unwitting Street by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky

chillcox15's review

3.0

Unwitting Street, the newest collection of short works by Khrzhizhanovsky translated by the good folks over at NYRB, is ultimately fairly disappointing and has me concerned that the Khrzhizhanovsky well is going dry much faster than I would have hoped. Even the better stories here, such as "Comrade Punt" feel a bit programmatically "Soviet satire"; as in, one could probably write that story now, having never lived in the USSR, if you have enough experience with the post-Gogol type of writerly perspective from whence it came. Autobiography of a Corpse is one of my favorite books, but nothing has matched it for me since.

sarapalooza's review

5.0

Unwitting Street
Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky/
Zygmunt Krzyżanowski

Another absolutely wonderful collection from Krzhizhanovsky. This one is far lighter than Memories of the Future, but just as delightful and crackling with wit.

I can certainly see how many of his stories weren’t published during his time, as he was a bit subversive! Although far less so than some. He described himself as “known for being unknown”. What a shame that he was not fully appreciated during his life. If you enjoy well-written short stories with unique twists and fantastic plots, then you’ll likely enjoy this.

Such a fan of his writing and can’t wait to read the other two collections I’ve found! #krzhizhanovsky #unwittingstreet #bookstagram #books #readingisfun #Krzyżanowski #кржижановский

bmip666's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

oleksandr's review

3.0

This is a collection of novellas (actually short stories in terms of length if one applies say Hugo award criteria) of Soviet writer [a:Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky|3175914|Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1293726995p2/3175914.jpg]. He was almost unknown during his life (1887–1950), because censors found his works too strange to publish (even despite there is no openly anti-communist propaganda or some such), so his prose was first published as a separate book only in 1989. Now he is considered one of the lost classics. He has a strange, chimeric/phantasmagorical style, which on one hand reminds of [a:Franz Kafka|5223|Franz Kafka|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1569196898p2/5223.jpg] and on other – of [a:Nikolai Gogol|232932|Nikolai Gogol|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1303965602p2/232932.jpg] and [a:Daniil Kharms|4152890|Daniil Kharms|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1280780809p2/4152890.jpg]. I read is as a part of monthly reading for December 2020 at Speculative Fiction in Translation group.

I actually read not this book, but the original stories in Russian from his Complete works, starting with this volume – [b:Собрание сочинений в 5 томах. Том 1|4256843|Собрание сочинений в 5 томах. Том 1|Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1234910754l/4256843._SY75_.jpg|4304303]. So, a first thing to note that this collection (which is the fifth of the author) actually combines works from different periods (and different volumes of the Collected Works). In a lot of his works at the beginning something strange happens: a fly is turned into an elephant; a god dies; a paper stops allowing any lies to be written on it, etc. and then we readers follow the way these accidents change the world. Another common (for him) trope is having inanimate objects (e.g. pants) or even abstractions (like plots o unwritten stories) behaving as people.

He is definitely an interesting imaginative writer and I’m glad I am now aware of him. I plan to read more of his works.

bethaniegarfin's review

funny lighthearted medium-paced

4.5

nini23's review

4.25

Whimsical, satirical and melancholic. . Reading about the author's life, it's not difficult to see how the last two qualities came to be; most of Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky's work was never published in his lifetime, it did not conform to approved material. Much gratitude to translator Joanne Turnbull for not only making them accessible to us English readers but also for the numerous citations and footnotes providing context. Without those, these short stories would be less comprehensible and rich, particularly in the titular story. My favourite short story was 'Death of an Elf', about an elf trapped in a cello although I did enjoy 'Paper Loses Patience' (refuses to have propaganda printed on it anymore), 'Journey of a Cage' (a parrot screeches inconvenient phrases in wartime) and 'Unwitting Street'. The blend of bitter absurdist humor so prevalent to Russian literature is in full force here.

mccordian's review

5.0

I'd love to hear these bizarre fables of personified thoughts, rogue clothings and fanciful drunk fantasies told in front of a roaring fire. Each story both eery and cozy as a waiting room designed by Winsor McCay, full of jokes dressed up in funeral wear. 

dflevitt's review against another edition

dark funny slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5