The Librarian (38 page)

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Authors: Mikhail Elizarov

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USHKIN
P
RESS

Pushkin Press was founded in 1997, and publishes novels, essays, memoirs, children’s books—everything from timeless classics to the urgent and contemporary.

Our books represent exciting, high-quality writing from around the world: we publish some of the twentieth century’s most widely acclaimed, brilliant authors such as Stefan Zweig, Marcel Aymé, Antal Szerb, Paul Morand and Yasushi Inoue, as well as compelling and award-winning contemporary writers, including Andrés Neuman, Edith Pearlman and Ryu Murakami.

Pushkin Press publishes the world’s best stories, to be read and read again. Here are just some of the titles from our long and varied list. For more amazing stories, visit
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.

THE SPECTRE OF ALEXANDER WOLF

GAITO GAZDANOV

‘A mesmerising work of literature’ Antony Beevor

 

BINOCULAR VISION

EDITH PEARLMAN

‘A genius of the short story’ Mark Lawson,
Guardian

 

TRAVELLER OF THE CENTURY

ANDRÉS NEUMAN

‘A beautiful, accomplished novel: as ambitious as it is generous, as moving as it is smart’ Juan Gabriel Vásquez,
Guardian

 

BEWARE OF PITY

STEFAN ZWEIG

‘Zweig’s fictional masterpiece’
Guardian

 

THE WORLD OF YESTERDAY

STEFAN ZWEIG


The World of Yesterday
is one of the greatest memoirs of the twentieth century, as perfect in its evocation of the world Zweig loved, as it is in its portrayal of how that world was destroyed’ David Hare

 

JOURNEY BY MOONLIGHT

ANTAL SZERB

‘Just divine… makes you imagine the author has had private access to your own soul’ Nicholas Lezard,
Guardian

 

BONITA AVENUE

PETER BUWALDA

‘One wild ride: a swirling helix of a family saga… a new writer as toe-curling as early Roth, as roomy as Franzen and as caustic as Houellebecq’
Sunday Telegraph

 

THE PARROTS

FILIPPO BOLOGNA

‘A five-star satire on literary vanity… a wonderful, surprising novel’
Metro

 

I WAS JACK MORTIMER

ALEXANDER LERNET-HOLENIA

‘Terrific… a truly clever, rather wonderful book that both plays with and defies genre’ Eileen Battersby,
Irish Times

 

SONG FOR AN APPROACHING STORM

PETER FRÖBERG IDLING

‘Beautifully evocative… a must-read novel’
Daily Mail

 

THE RABBIT BACK LITERATURE SOCIETY

PASI ILMARI JÄÄSKELÄINEN

‘Wonderfully knotty… a very grown-up fantasy masquerading as quirky fable. Unexpected, thrilling and absurd’
Sunday Telegraph

 

RED LOVE: THE STORY OF AN EAST GERMAN FAMILY

MAXIM LEO

‘Beautiful and supremely touching… an unbearably poignant description of a world that no longer exists’
Sunday Telegraph

 

THE BREAK

PIETRO GROSSI

‘Small and perfectly formed… reaching its end leaves the reader desirous to start all over again’
Independent

 

FROM THE FATHERLAND, WITH LOVE

RYU MURAKAMI

‘If Haruki is
The Beatles
of Japanese literature, Ryu is its
Rolling Stones
’ David Pilling

 

BUTTERFLIES IN NOVEMBER

AUÐUR AVA ÓLAFSDÓT TIR

‘A funny, moving and occasionally bizarre exploration of life’s upheavals and reversals’
Financial Times

 

BARCELONA SHADOWS

MARC PASTOR

‘As gruesome as it is gripping… the writing is extraordinarily vivid… Highly recommended’
Independent

 

THE LAST DAYS

LAURENT SEKSIK

‘Mesmerising… Seksik’s portrait of Zweig’s final months is dignified and tender’
Financial Times

 

BY BLOOD

ELLEN ULLMAN

‘Delicious and intriguing’
Daily Telegraph

 

WHILE THE GODS WERE SLEEPING

ERWIN MORTIER

‘A monumental, phenomenal book’
De Morgen

 

THE BRETHREN

ROBERT MERLE

‘A master of the historical novel’
Guardian

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Original text © 2007 Mikhail Elizarov.

First published in Russian by Ad Marginem Press LLC

The publication of this book was negotiated through Banke,
Goumen & Smirnova Literary Agency (
www.bgs-agency.com
)

English translation © Andrew Bromfield 2015

The Librarian first published in Russian as
Библиотекарь
in 2007

This translation first published by Pushkin Press in 2015

This ebook edition published in 2015

Published with the support of the Institute for Literary Translation, Russia

ISBN 978 1 782270 84 3

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from Pushkin Press

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