Wandering in Circles

“Jill Martiniuk’s monograph… makes a solid contribution to the already large body of Erofeev scholarship, not least because Martiniuk builds her argument on meticulous close readings of major intertexts. This is a refreshingly empirical study, prioritizing textual scholarship over theoretical conceptualization, and yet it effortlessly locates Moskva-Petushki in the heavily ironic postmodern landscape of the Soviet 1970s.”

— Josephine von Zitzewitz, New College (Oxford), Modern Language Review (Vol. 118, No. 1)

“From the moment that the manuscript of Moskva-Petushki surfaced (and then sunk and resurfaced) over forty years ago, readers and literary scholars have debated the nature of Erofeev’s dense intertextual references. Jill Martiniuk’s book is a significant contribution to that conversation, as she demonstrates persuasively that Erofeev is in deep and extensive dialogue with Radishchev, Dante, and Milton. Their seminal works are the models for his own exploration of the possibility of redemption in the context of Soviet culture of the 1970s. Martiniuk helps us hear the echoes of these works as a coherent pattern interwoven in the text. For Venichka, redemption is tragically elusive; that tragedy—shared by the generation of Russian writers, artists, and thinkers shaped by Brezhnev’s stagnation—lies at the heart of Moskva-Petushki.”

— Karen Ryan, Professor of World Languages & Cultural Studies, Merrimack College