Alex Christofi

Komplekt iz dvukh knig: "Besy" F. M. Dostoevskogo i "Dostoevskij in love" A. Kristofi. Odna istorija rozhdaet vtoruju. Odin avtor vdokhnovljaet drugikh. Ne vazhno, v kakom porjadke chitat knigi. Mozhno nachat s antinigilisticheskikh "Besov" - odnogo iz naibolee tragicheskikh i do strashnogo prorocheskikh romanov Fedora Mikhajlovicha Dostoevskogo. Pogruzitsja v atmosferu gubernskogo gorodka, v kotoryj priezzhaet zagadochnyj Nikolaj Stavrogin so svoim suetlivym tovarischem Petrom Verkhovenskim, a zatem i ego mnimaja zhena Khromonozhka. A mozhno nachat s "Dostoevskij in love" Aleksa Kristofi i posmotret na "Besov" drugimi glazami. V romane "Dostoevskij in love" spleteny otryvki iz proizvedenij Fedora Mikhajlovicha i istoricheskij kontekst. Kristofi pogruzhaet chitatelja v grandioznuju perspektivu mira Dostoevskogo: ot sibirskogo lagerja do igornykh zalov Evropy, ot syrykh tjuremnykh kamer tsarskoj kreposti do izyskannykh salonov Sankt-Peterburga. Aleks Kristofi sozdal memuary, kotorye mog by napisat Dostoevskij, esli by ne vmeshalis zhizn i literaturnaja slava. On daet novyj portret khudozhnika, kotoryj, vozmozhno, byl nam ranshe neznakom: zastenchivyj, no predannyj ljubjaschij, chutkij drug naroda, vernyj brat i drug, a takzhe pisatel, sposobnyj proniknut v glubiny chelovecheskoj dushi.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ANGLO-HELLENIC LEAGUE RUNCIMAN AWARD 2025"A brilliant exploration of Cyprus’s long history of cultural resilience. Superbly composed." -- GuardianOne of National Geographic's Summer Reads 2024Think of a place where you can stand at the intersection of Christian and Arab cultures, at the crossroads of the British, Ottoman, Byzantine, Roman and Egyptian empires; a place marked by the struggle between fascism and communism and where the capital city is divided in half as a result of bloody conflict; where the ancient olive trees of Homer's time exist alongside the undersea cables which link up the world's internet. In Cypria, named after a lost Cypriot epic which was the prequel to The Odyssey, British Cypriot writer Alex Christofi writes a deeply personal, lyrical history of the island of Cyprus, from the era of goddesses and mythical beasts to the present day. This sprawling, evocative and poetic book begins with the legend of the cyclops and the storytelling at the heart of the Mediterranean culture. Christofi travels to salt lakes, crusader castles, mosques and the eerie town deserted at the start of the 1974 war. He retells the particularly bloody history of Cyprus during the twentieth century and considers his own identity as traveler and returner, as Odysseus was. Written in sensitive, witty and beautifully rendered prose, with a novelist's flair and eye for detail, Cypria combines the political, cultural and geographical history of Cyprus with reflections on time, place and belonging.

A WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024 "A brilliant exploration of Cyprus’s long history of cultural resilience. Superbly composed." -- Guardian"Poetic... Compelling" -- New StatesmanOne of National Geographic's Summer Reads 2024Think of a place where you can stand at the intersection of Christian and Arab cultures, at the crossroads of the British, Ottoman, Byzantine, Roman and Egyptian empires; a place marked by the struggle between fascism and communism and where the capital city is divided in half as a result of bloody conflict; where the ancient olive trees of Homer's time exist alongside the undersea cables which link up the world's internet. In Cypria, named after a lost Cypriot epic which was the prequel to The Odyssey, British Cypriot writer Alex Christofi writes a deeply personal, lyrical history of the island of Cyprus, from the era of goddesses and mythical beasts to the present day. This sprawling, evocative and poetic book begins with the legend of the cyclops and the storytelling at the heart of the Mediterranean culture. Christofi travels to salt lakes, crusader castles, mosques and the eerie town deserted at the start of the 1974 war. He retells the particularly bloody history of Cyprus during the twentieth century and considers his own identity as traveler and returner, as Odysseus was. Written in sensitive, witty and beautifully rendered prose, with a novelist's flair and eye for detail, Cypria combines the political, cultural and geographical history of Cyprus with reflections on time, place and belonging.

Komplekt iz dvukh knig: Prestuplenie i nakazanie" F. M. Dostoevskogo i "Dostoevskij in love" A. Kristofi. Odna istorija rozhdaet vtoruju. Odin avtor vdokhnovljaet drugikh. Ne vazhno, v kakom porjadke chitat knigi. Mozhno nachat s kultovogo romana "Prestuplenie i nakazanija", a mozhno s "Dostoevskij in love" Aleksa Kristofi, i posmotret na "Prestuplenie i nakazanie" drugimi glazami. V "Dostoevskij in love" spleteny otryvki iz proizvedenij Fedora Mikhajlovicha i istoricheskij kontekst. V rezultate poluchilsja roman, kotoryj pogruzhaet chitatelja v grandioznuju perspektivu mira Dostoevskogo: ot sibirskogo lagerja do igornykh zalov Evropy, ot syrykh tjuremnykh kamer tsarskoj kreposti do izyskannykh salonov Sankt-Peterburga. Takzhe Kristofi rasskazal istorii trekh zhenschin, chi zhizni byli tak tesno perepleteny s zhiznju pisatelja: chakhotochnoj vdovy Marii, poryvistoj Poliny, imevshej videnija ob ubijstve tsarja, i vernoj stenografistki Anny, kotoraja tak mnogo sdelala dlja sokhranenija ego literaturnogo nasledija. Kristofi sozdal memuary, kotorye mog by napisat Dostoevskij, esli by ne vmeshalis zhizn i literaturnaja slava. On daet novyj portret khudozhnika, kotoryj, vozmozhno, byl nam ranshe ne znakom: zastenchivyj, no predannyj ljubjaschij, chutkij drug naroda, vernyj brat i drug, a takzhe pisatel, sposobnyj proniknut v glubiny chelovecheskoj dushi."

Zhizn Dostoevskogo byla blestjascha i zhestoka. Prigovorennyj k smertnoj kazni kak revoljutsioner, on izbezhal rasstrela, perezhil sibirskuju ssylku i byl prinjat v blizhajshee okruzhenie tsarja. U nego bylo tri velikikh ljubovnykh romana, kazhdyj ikh kotorykh omrachalsja iznuritelnoj epilepsiej i pristrastiem k azartnym igram. No v eto vremja pisalis rasskazy, publitsisticheskie proizvedenija i romany, takie kak "Prestuplenie i nakazanie", "Idiot" i "Bratja Karamazovy", priznannye mirovym dostojaniem i besspornymi shedevrami. V "Dostoevskij in love" Aleks Kristofi splel v edinoe tseloe tschatelno podobrannye otryvki iz proizvedenij avtora i istoricheskij kontekst. V rezultate poluchilsja roman, kotoryj pogruzhaet chitatelja v grandioznuju perspektivu mira Dostoevskogo: ot sibirskogo lagerja do igornykh zalov Evropy, ot syrykh tjuremnykh kamer tsarskoj kreposti do izyskannykh salonov Sankt-Peterburga. Takzhe Kristofi rasskazal istorii trekh zhenschin, chi zhizni byli tak tesno perepleteny s zhiznju pisatelja: chakhotochnoj vdovy Marii, poryvistoj Poliny, imevshej videnija ob ubijstve tsarja, i vernoj stenografistki Anny, kotoraja tak mnogo sdelala dlja sokhranenija ego literaturnogo nasledija. Kristofi sozdal memuary, kotorye mog by napisat Dostoevskij, esli by ne vmeshalis zhizn i literaturnaja slava. On daet novyj portret khudozhnika, kotoryj, vozmozhno, byl nam ranshe ne znakom: zastenchivyj, no predannyj ljubjaschij, chutkij drug naroda, vernyj brat i drug, a takzhe pisatel, sposobnyj proniknut v glubiny chelovecheskoj dushi. Perevodchik: Obalenskaja Irina Nikolaevna

'A daring and mesmerizing twist on the art of biography' – Douglas Smith, author of Rasputin: The Biography'Anyone who loves [Dostoevsky's] novels will be fascinated by this book' – Sue Prideaux, author of I Am Dynamite! A Life of Friedrich NietzscheDostoevsky’s life was marked by brilliance and brutality. Sentenced to death as a young revolutionary, he survived mock execution and Siberian exile to live through a time of seismic change in Russia, eventually being accepted into the Tsar’s inner circle. He had three great love affairs, each overshadowed by debilitating epilepsy and addiction to gambling. Somehow, amidst all this, he found time to write short stories, journalism and novels such as Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov, works now recognised as among the finest ever written. In Dostoevsky in Love Alex Christofi weaves carefully chosen excerpts of the author’s work with the historical context to form an illuminating and often surprising whole. The result is a novelistic life that immerses the reader in a grand vista of Dostoevsky’s world: from the Siberian prison camp to the gambling halls of Europe; from the dank prison cells of the Tsar’s fortress to the refined salons of St Petersburg. Along the way, Christofi relates the stories of the three women whose lives were so deeply intertwined with Dostoevsky’s: the consumptive widow Maria; the impetuous Polina who had visions of assassinating the Tsar; and the faithful stenographer Anna, who did so much to secure his literary legacy. Reading between the lines of his fiction, Christofi reconstructs the memoir Dostoevsky might have written had life – and literary stardom – not intervened. He gives us a new portrait of the artist as never before seen: a shy but devoted lover, an empathetic friend of the people, a loyal brother and friend, and a writer able to penetrate to the very depths of the human soul.

'A daring and mesmerizing twist on the art of biography' – Douglas Smith, author of Rasputin: The Biography'Anyone who loves [Dostoevsky's] novels will be fascinated by this book' – Sue Prideaux, author of I Am Dynamite! A Life of Friedrich NietzscheDostoevsky’s life was marked by brilliance and brutality. Sentenced to death as a young revolutionary, he survived mock execution and Siberian exile to live through a time of seismic change in Russia, eventually being accepted into the Tsar’s inner circle. He had three great love affairs, each overshadowed by debilitating epilepsy and addiction to gambling. Somehow, amidst all this, he found time to write short stories, journalism and novels such as Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov, works now recognised as among the finest ever written. In Dostoevsky in Love Alex Christofi weaves carefully chosen excerpts of the author’s work with the historical context to form an illuminating and often surprising whole. The result is a novelistic life that immerses the reader in a grand vista of Dostoevsky’s world: from the Siberian prison camp to the gambling halls of Europe; from the dank prison cells of the Tsar’s fortress to the refined salons of St Petersburg. Along the way, Christofi relates the stories of the three women whose lives were so deeply intertwined with Dostoevsky’s: the consumptive widow Maria; the impetuous Polina who had visions of assassinating the Tsar; and the faithful stenographer Anna, who did so much to secure his literary legacy. Reading between the lines of his fiction, Christofi reconstructs the memoir Dostoevsky might have written had life – and literary stardom – not intervened. He gives us a new portrait of the artist as never before seen: a shy but devoted lover, an empathetic friend of the people, a loyal brother and friend, and a writer able to penetrate to the very depths of the human soul.

Paris, 1958. Ralf is alone, filling his days with glasses of red wine at Jacques' bar, waiting for life to happen to him. Then, one night, Elsa - bold, enigmatic, unpredictable - whirls into Jacques' bar and into Ralf's world, knocking him out of his cautious routine and into a life full of spontaneity and excitement. But Elsa is hiding something. As Ralf falls deeper in love, he reveals more of his past - his childhood in Nazi Germany, his time in a British tank division at the end of the Second World War. But what is Elsa hiding? And can their love survive it? Let Us Be True charts the lives of these two extraordinary characters through an era of great uncertainty, from the war and its aftermath through to the deadly unrest of 1960s Paris. Evocative, charismatic and sweeping in scope, Alex Christofi's second novel is a moving story of love and loss, of the things we hide from ourselves and from others, and of the personal cost of Europe's turbulent twentieth century.