On Friday I went to see a play called 'Netochka Nezvanova - Nameless Nobody' at the New End Theatre in Hampstead. It was an astonishing one-woman show, based on an unfinished Dostoevsky novel, performed by Vera Filatova. Vera was on Broadcasting House this morning talking about how the current Anglo-Russian difficulties have impacted on the production.
I was lucky enough to chat to Vera in the pub afterwards, along with some very friendly, and not at all melancholic, Dostoevsky fans. Well, most of the people there were Dostoevsky fans. A young Russian woman called Marina told me that she didn't actually like Dostoevsky because the books are too grim. I argued that there was quite a lot of humour in Dostoevsky. "Yes but it is very dark humour," she said. And to be honest I couldn't argue with that.
I can thoroughly recommend the play, which runs until February 3. I will be posting a bit more about it - either here or elsewhere - soon.
In the meantime
The book blog Lizzy's Literary Life has put up a review of both A Gentle Axe and A Vengeful Longing.
I'm totally bowled over by it.
2 comments:
You're at that point where people can start reviewing your oeurve instead of just your book!
And to have the second book in a series rated stronger than the first...as we say in California, whoa, dude!
Congrats, Roger - wonderful stuff!
A
xxx
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