St. Petersburg Noir
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
“Fourteen uniformly strong stories in [this] outstanding noir anthology devoted to Russia’s second city . . . an ideal backdrop for crime fiction.” —Publishers Weekly
The origins of St. Petersburg’s rich noir tradition come from the city’s history, urban landscape, and the weather. The freezing winds from the Baltics give rise to hopelessness, despair, and the darkest of humor. The swamps upon which the city was built cloak it in a thick haze that inspires ghostly tales and furtive behaviors.
In St. Petersburg Noir, you’ll find original stories by Lena Eltang, Sergei Nosov, Alexander Kudriavstev, Andrei Kivinov, Julia Belomlinsky, Natalia Kurchatova & Ksenia Venglinskaya, Anton Chizh, Vladimir Berezin, Andrei Rubanov, Vadim Levental, Anna Solovey, Mikhail Lialin, Pavel Krusanov, and Eugene Kogan.
“The Russian soul is well suited to a style defined by dark, hard-edged moodiness in underground settings. With St. Petersburg, the tsar’s ‘Window on Europe,’ we get European-style existential angst as well—not to mention the scary sociopolitical realities of the new Russia . . . For all sophisticated crime fiction readers.” —Library Journal
“A riveting collection. An insightful ‘tour’ of St. Petersburg. And a spellbinding introduction to Russian literature and perspective.” —Killer Nashville
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Literary agents Goumen and Smirnova, the co-editors of 2010's Moscow Noir, offer 14 uniformly strong stories in their outstanding noir anthology devoted to Russia's second city, St. Petersburg. With its rich if often tragic history, deep literary traditions, inspiring landscape, famous architecture, and an aging population stuffed into overcrowded "kommunalkas" (communal apartments) amid a post-Soviet decline and soaring crime rate, the city provides an ideal backdrop for crime fiction. Selections range from the gallows humor of Andre Kivinov's "Training Day" to the gloomy realism of Lena Eltang's "Drunk Harbor," from the glum nihilism of Anna Solovey's "Swift Current" to the determined heroism of Anton Chizh's "The Nutcracker." While few if any of the contributors will be familiar to American readers, the diversity of these skillfully crafted tales testifies to the vigor of contemporary Russian writing.
