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The Kukotsky Enigma
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Wikipedia article
'The Kukotsky Enigma' is a novel by acclaimed[http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/06/weight-words] New Yorker link. Retrieved April 30, 2016. Russian novelist and public intellectual Lyudmila Ulitskaya. 'The Kukotsky Enigma' won the 2001 Russian Booker Prize. With five, Ulitskaya holds the record for the most nominations for that prestigious award. In 2005, a television series based on the novel by director Yuri Grymov was aired in Russia. Critics suggest that the book's focus on abortion (from 1936 to 1955 it was allowed in USSR only for medical reasons) offers a new reading of Stalinism through the lens of family life and the female body.
Plot summary
The novel follows the life of the family of gynecologist Pavel Alekseevich Kukotsky. The story follows him from Stalins 1936 ban on abortions through the mid-1960s.
The novel consists of four parts. The first describes the life of the Kukotsky family members before the 1960s: his wife Yelena, their adopted daughter Tanya, a classmate Toma, and a former nun working as a housekeeper in Yelenas home. The second part is a dream Yelena experiences while hovering between life and death. The third part covers the life of the family after 1960 and up to Tanya's death. The fourth part forms a brief epilogue.
Editions
*2001, Russian Federation, Izdatelstvo Ast, Pub date 2001
*'The Kukotsky Enigma' translated by Diane Nemec Ignashev. Northwestern University Press, 15 August 2016;
References
Category:2001 novels
Category:21st-century Russian novels
Category:Family saga novels
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