Lyudmila Petrushevskaya
Lyudmila
Stefanovna Petrushevskaya (Russian: Людмила
Стефановна Петрушевская) (born May 26, 1938) is
a Russian writer, novelist and playwright.
Petrushevskaya is regarded as one of Russia's
most talented contemporary writers, whose
writing combines postmodernist trends with the
psychological insights and parodic touches of
writers such as Anton Chekhov. Over the last few
decades, Ludmilla Petrushevskaya has been one of
the most admired and acclaimed contemporary
writers at work in Eastern Europe: Publishers
Weekly has called her "one of the finest living
Russian writers".
In 1979 she was
co-writer of the scenario for one of the most
influential Russian animated films, Tale of
Tales. She served as a jury member in the 3rd
Open Russian Festival of Animated Film in 1998.
In a 1993
interview with Sally Laird, translator of her
novella, "The Time Night," Petrushevskaya said
of her own work, "Russia is a land of women
Homers, women who tell their stories orally,
just like that, without inventing anything.
They're extraordinarily talented storytellers.
I'm just a listener among them."
Her works
include the novels The Time Night (1992) and The
Number One, both short-listed for the Russian
Booker Prize, and Immortal Love, a collection of
short stories and monologues. Since the late
1980s her plays, stories and novels have been
published in more than 30 languages all over the
world. In 2003 she was awarded the Pushkin Prize
in Russian literature by the Alfred Toepfer
Foundation in Germany. She was awarded The
Russian State Prize for arts (2004), The
Stanislavsky Award (2005), and The Triumph Prize
(2006).
A new book,
"There Once Lived a Woman who Tried to Kill Her
Neighbor's Baby," by Lyudmila Petrushevskaya was
published in the U.S. by Penguin in October
2009. The first major translation of her work by
an American publisher, the stories often contain
mystical or allegorical elements which are used
to illuminate bleak Soviet and post-Soviet
living conditions. The collection of stories has
been well-reviewed, buttressing Petrushevskaya's
reputation in the English-speaking world. An
article in Dissent called the collection "a
striking introduction to the author's work":
"Petrushevskaya’s
stories could easily be read as bleak
grotesques, populated by envious neighbors,
selfish adolescents, and parents who
overcompensate with exaggerated love. But
ultimately, Petrushevskaya’s skillful
juxtapositions yield glints of light. Resilience
and ingenuity thread through the hardship,
whether in the form of forgiveness or love. Such
traces of humanity are starker—and
brighter—because of the darkness that surrounds
them."
"There Once
Lived a Woman" entered The New York Times Book
Review Top 35 Bestsellers (Dec 2009)
In her late 60s Liudmila Petrushevskaya started
a powerful singing career. She re-wrote most
famous songs of the 20th century (from Ella
Fitzdgerald to Edith Piaf) - those best known
hits of war and peace, tears and happiness, love
and sorrow - and created new lyrics for her
favorite songs. Since 2008 she's regularly
performing as a singer in Moscow (from
nightclubs to major venues such as Moscow House
of Music) and across Russia as well as
internationally (from New York to Odessa).
Recently she started writing her own songs. Some
of the videos showing Petrushevskaya as a singer
became youtube's hits
Petrushevskaya
is also known as a visual artist - her
portraits, nudes and still lifes have been shown
in major Russia's museums (Tretyakov Gallery,
Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, State Museum of
Literature9lk) and private galleries
Lyudmila
Petrushevskaya lives in Moscow, where she
continues her work.
