Mark Kharitonov (1937-2024)

[Benny Profane]

Mark Kharitonov who was awarded the First Russian Booker Prize passed away on January.

Obituary: https://www.newsefir.net/post/mark-haritonov

Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Kharitonov

Might you tell more about him, @alik-vit ?

 

[The Common Reader]

Mark Kharitonov who was awarded the First Russian Booker Prize passed away on January.

Obituary: https://www.newsefir.net/post/mark-haritonov

Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Kharitonov

Might you tell more about him, @alik-vit ?

Thank you @Benny Profane for bringing this sad news to everyone’s attention. I remember reading Lines of Fate, or a large part of it, in
the mid-nineties and thinking that this was something weird and original, and yet wondering whether the main character, Milashevich, might have been based on some actual figure from the 1920’s. I was writing, or had just finished, my dissertation at the time, and was therefore primed to see traces of author on whom I wrote (Aleksei Remizov), everywhere. So my question to @alik-vit is—who is Milashevich?

 

[The Common Reader]

Mark Kharitonov, who was also a translator of German literature: of Thomas Mann, Kafka, and Canetti. I am curious to know if @Leseratte ever knew him or knew of him?

 

[Benny Profane]

Thank you @Benny Profane for bringing this sad news to everyone’s attention. I remember reading Lines of Fate, or a large part of it, in
the mid-nineties and thinking that this was something weird and original, and yet wondering whether the main character, Milashevich, might have been based on some actual figure from the 1920’s. I was writing, or had just finished, my dissertation at the time, and was therefore primed to see traces of author on whom I wrote (Aleksei Remizov), everywhere. So my question to @alik-vit is—who is Milashevich?

So sad story, my dear... I hope you are OK after knowing about his death...
I was searching for new names in Russian Literature and I found this name (the first winner of Russian Booker Prize) and noticed that he passed away on January (delayed information, of course).

Well, what about his body of works? What are your impressions on Lines of Fate? Is it a good start point?

 

[alik-vit]

Sorry, folks, I'm total zero in this period of Russian literature. I know nothing about Mark Kharitonov's oeuvre.
P. S. Remizov is cool!

 

[The Common Reader]

Sorry, folks, I'm total zero in this period of Russian literature. I know nothing about Mark Kharitonov's oeuvre.
P. S. Remizov is cool!

Yes he certainly was…

 

[Liam]

^Hold on, he published The Hours several decades before Michael Cunningham??? ?

 

[The Common Reader]

So sad story, my dear... I hope you are OK after knowing about his death...
I was searching for new names in Russian Literature and I found this name (the first winner of Russian Booker Prize) and noticed that he passed away on January (delayed information, of course).

Well, what about his body of works? What are your impressions on Lines of Fate? Is it a good start point?

Yes, by all means, I thought it was enchanting. It was winter of 1995-96, I was doing research in the Public Library in St. Petersburg, I didn’t own a copy but in the evenings I would dip into it in the main reading room as it was usually snowing outside, it was like playing hooky when I should have been working. An English-language translation came out later: But I don’t know if it has appeared in Portuguese.

 

[The Common Reader]

^Hold on, he published The Hours several decades before Michael Cunningham??? ?

Yes!!

 

[The Common Reader]

It has been translated into French as La mallette de Milachévitch:

 

[Liam]

Out of curiosity, TCR, who is your favorite Russian writer?

 

[The Common Reader]

Out of curiosity, TCR, who is your favorite Russian writer?

Dostoevsky. And I can’t explain my preference any better than Carol Apollonio did here: https://themillions.com/2012/04/tolstoy-or-dostoevsky-8-experts-on-whos-greater.html
Who is your favorite Russian writer, Liam?

 

[The Common Reader]

Out of curiosity, TCR, who is your favorite Russian writer?

I love many other Russian writers, but to me Dostoevsky’s novels and stories seem to exist in my mind as if they aren’t at all fictional but rather some kind of place I visited or lived in in the past, like St. Petersburg, for example.

 

[Liam]

^If I was hard-pressed to pick just one, I'd go for Chekhov, but some of my other favorites who are not mentioned enough (at least I don't think) would include Bunin and Platonov. But I love love LOVE Dostoyevsky, so: excellent choice!!

Favorite poet: definitely Marina Tsvetaeva. I dream of writing a book about her one day!!

 

[Leseratte]

I love many other Russian writers, but to me Dostoevsky’s novels and stories seem to exist in my mind as if they aren’t at all fictional but rather some kind of place I visited or lived in in the past, like St. Petersburg, for example.

Dostojewski takes one by the guts, I think.

 

[Leseratte]

View attachment 2432
Mark Kharitonov, who was also a translator of German literature: of Thomas Mann, Kafka, and Canetti. I am curious to know if @Leseratte ever knew him or knew of him?

Sadly no, CR. But will take a look in the net.

 

[The Common Reader]

^If I was hard-pressed to pick just one, I'd go for Chekhov, but some of my other favorites who are not mentioned enough (at least I don't think) would include Bunin and Platonov. But I love love LOVE Dostoyevsky, so: excellent choice!!

Favorite poet: definitely Marina Tsvetaeva. I dream of writing a book about her one day!!

Март. Достать чернил и плакать!
Писать о Цветаевой навзрыд,
Пока грохущая сляготь
Весною черною горит.

You should drop whatever you’re doing and write a book about Tsvetaeva now, while you are still young. There is so much to be said about her from so many angles and you are, if I understand correctly, a native speaker, so you can fully comprehend the innate musicality of her work. (This is something I could never do—even when my Russian was at its best my Russian friends would say I sounded like someone from the Baltic republics, and then I spent time in both Estonia and Lithuania and realized—this is not a compliment.)

 

[Liam]

^Native speaker, sort of, my mom is Ukrainian, but yes, I've known and spoken both languages since childhood basically.

First thing on my to do list: finish the dissertation. But I agree, the next big project ought to be a book about M. T.

 

[The Common Reader]

https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781565842304
I have never even opened the English translation, but Publisher’s Weekly gives a helpful description of what the novel is about.

 

[tiganeasca]

There is also an interesting take in the review by Clare Cavanaugh appearing in the NYT, here.