Sasha Sokolov's A School for Fools and Between Dog and Wolf, with Jose Vergara

https://substack.com/@thebigbookprojectLori is joined by Jose Vergara, Associate Professor of Russian at Bryn Mawr College, for a deep dive on Sasha Sokolov, the great destabilizing stylist of Soviet literature and a true writer’s writer. Together they read through Sokolov’s first two novels, A School for Fools (New York Review Books Classics) and Between Dog and Wolf (Columbia University Press), both translated by Alexander Boguslawski.They get into: the boy narrator of A School for Fools, his double, and his “problem with time,” railroads, and the dreamlike stream of consciousness passages; the alternating prose and poetry of Between Dog and Wolf, the title’s meaning, birds, butterflies, and transformation as an escape from Soviet constraint. They also discuss Sokolov’s exile and his fascination with the “how” of art.Sokolov's novels are not without their challenges, but Jose's indispensable annotated guide to Between Dog and Wolf can help you on your journey of this important work: https://encyclopediaofthedog.com/Other books mentioned: Astrophobia and In the House of the Hanged, Essays, both by Sasha Sokolov, Maidenhair and The Light and the Dark (Mikhail Shishkin), and Fathers and Sons (Ivan Turgenev).⏱️ Chapters 00:00 "Time doesn't make sense to him" 00:47 Welcome and meet Jose Vergara 02:26 Why Sokolov is a writer's writer 07:45 Inside A School for Fools 11:12 The double and the problem with time 12:44 Veta, the railroad, and a passage read aloud 16:13 How to read a destabilizing novel 23:29 Birds, butterflies, and transformation 28:03 Deformity and disability in Sokolov 36:26 Between Dog and Wolf: structure and story 44:17 The river, the living, and the dead 46:58 A poem read aloud: "Return" 1:00:13 Influences: Joyce, painting, and music 1:04:41 Who Sokolov influenced: Mikhail Shishkin 1:09:00 Why these big books are worth the struggle