Sugar Kremlin

5 hrs. 44 min.

Romance & Prose

Language Russian

Author Vladimir Sorokin

Narrator Irina Yerisanova

Description

In “The Sugar Kremlin”—a dystopia in stories by the virtuoso and provocateur Vladimir Sorokin—characters and realities from the novel “Day of the Oprichnik” have moved in. There is the same surrealism and biting satire, a phantasmagoria through which recognizable traits of contemporary Russian life shine through. Continuing this theme, the author has detailed the way of life of future Russia: they drown furnaces in apartment blocks, build a brick wall to fence themselves off from internal enemies, while oprichniks fight enemies from outside; the streets are walked by fools-for-christ and dwarfs among passersby, and in houses of tolerance, girls in sundresses and kokoshniks meet dear guests. Sugar and honey, fir resin and hops, little candies—each story is united by the same stylistic approach: a fairy-tale-like, smooth, sweet manner. And because of Sorokin’s “sweetness,” the terrifying world he has created seems even more frightening.