A new collection of stories by the acclaimed Ludmila Ulitskaya, masterfully translated into English
A New Yorker Best of the Week Pick • A Library Journal choice for Best World Literature of 2023 • A World Literature Today Notable Translation of 2023
“[A] magnificent collection . . . [by] a writer of boundless tenderness.”—Geneviève Brisac, Le Monde
“Centrifugal, pensive, often elusive stories by one of the greatest living Russian writers (and leading anti-Putinist). . . . The stories are marvels of economy and the unexpected twist, each a memorable tour de force. . . . A welcome introduction to the short fiction of an essential writer.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
While we can feel, know, and study the body, the soul refuses definition. Where does it begin and end? What does the soul have to do with love? Does it exist at all, and if so, does it outlast the body? Or are the soul and body really one and the same?
These are questions posed by the characters who inhabit this book of stories by the award-winning Russian writer Ludmila Ulitskaya. A woman believes that the best way to control her life is to control her death. A landscape photographer wonders if the beauty he has witnessed can triumph over decay. A coroner dedicated to science is confronted by a startling physical anomaly, a lonely divorcée experiences an extraordinary transformation, a librarian whose life is devoted to language finds words slipping away from her.
In these eleven stories, artfully rendered into English by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, Ulitskaya maps the edges of our lives, tracing a delicate geography of the soul.
“A generous and compassionate vision. . . . Ulitskaya’s tales enchant, and, in our brutalized times, they offer comforting reading. Here we see people who suffer but who also find the strength to bear.”—Sigrid Nunez, New York Review of Books
A New Yorker Best of the Week Pick
“[A] magnificent collection . . . [by] a writer of boundless tenderness.”—Geneviève Brisac, Le Monde
“It is a similar triumph over circumstance that Ludmila Ulitskaya’s reputation has survived Russia’s international shaming. These stories, transcending their deliberate parochialism, deserve a global readership.”—Muireann Maguire, Times Literary Supplement
A World Literature Today Notable Translation of 2023
“[A] collection of economical, honest stories. They are all tinged with a sense of loss, but her spirited characters are determined to spit in the eye of bad faith.”—Eithne Farry, Daily Mail
“Magnificent. . . . The Body of the Soul enhances [Ulitskaya’s] reputation as one of the most important Russian writers of her generation. . . . Each story provokes questions about the human condition that take readers far beyond the subject matter. . . . In this brilliant collection, Ulitskaya manages to convey the inexpressible, dazzling readers with her insight.”—Elizabeth Fifer, World Literature Today
“This level of consistency and balance is a rare feat in collections where, usually, some stories take precedence over others. . . . These stories explore intriguing questions and offer unique perspectives.”—Hritik Verma, Hindustan Times
“Ulitskaya’s latest collection is peopled by riveting characters facing pressing, often life-and-death questions with equanimity.”—Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal, “Best World Literature of 2023”
“Centrifugal, pensive, often elusive stories by one of the greatest living Russian writers (and leading anti-Putinist). . . . The stories are marvels of economy and the unexpected twist, each a memorable tour de force. . . . A welcome introduction to the short fiction of an essential writer.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“A moody and slightly mystical glance at life, loneliness, and cadavers. . . . There is also a strangely surreal undercurrent here, and elements of Garcia Márquez and Chekhov. . . . Stories filled with the quiet untenable tension of dreams, desires, and decisions, the tensions that hold us together, without letting us get too close.”—Herman Sutter, Library Journal
“[Ulitskaya’s] collection of short stories plumbs one universal theme: humanity surviving against all odds, despite itself. . . . As you read these pieces, there are no nihilistic suggestions that—no matter how dire the circumstances and trials—the game of life was not worth playing.”—Thomas Filbin, Arts Fuse
“Ulitskaya creates marvelously observed characters, often at the intersection of cultures.”—Phil Klay, Image Journal
“Ulitskaya is writing fearlessly and with mature depth. . . . These stories demand that the reader see differently, feel differently, leave the known for the unknown, and enter landscapes of love and desire they have not previously considered.”—Amy Frykholm, Christian Century
“[A] poignantly rich collection.”—Yelena Furman, On the Seawall
About the Author
Ludmila Ulitskaya (b. 1943) is an internationally acclaimed Russian novelist and short story writer. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky are an award-winning team of literary translators who have translated over thirty works from the Russian.
