Ninochka: A Novel

Svetlana Boym

Book

Ninochka

A Novel

Svetlana Boym

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2012

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This book is in the series

SUNY series, The Margins of Literature

About this book

A Russian émigré living in New York travels to Paris to try to reconstruct the secret life of another Russian woman who was murdered there on the eve of World War II.

A playful literary mystery set in the 1930s and 1990s, Ninochka tells the double tale of two women exiles who are both homesick and sick of home. Tanya, a Russian immigrant living in New York, travels to Paris in an attempt to reconstruct the secret life of Nina B., who was murdered there almost sixty years ago, on the eve of World War II. The murder was never solved, and in an attempt to crack the case, Tanya takes possession of Nina's handbag, which contains her diaries, love letters, kits for embroidering Russian blouses, a mysterious treatise on Eurasian supremacy, and a review of Ninotchka, the film in which Greta Garbo played a KGB agent who finds romance in Paris.

Among the potential murder suspects are a charismatic professor and nationalist leader, an aspiring American songwriter, an aging Trotskyite, a Hungarian con artist, a heavy-drinking singer of nostalgic romance, and an athletic Comrade X of unknown origins who was rumored to have returned to the Soviet Union. As Tanya is drawn into this immigrant underworld of displaced people, double agents, and dreamers, she finds herself more and more implicated in the life of the murdered woman. Ultimately, she is forced to return to her native country, where she confronts her own homesickness in the changing post-Soviet world.

Author / Editor information

Boym Svetlana :

Svetlana Boym is Professor of Slavic and Comparative Literature at Harvard University. She is the author of several books, including The Future of Nostalgia and Kosmos: Remembrances of the Future, as well as short stories and plays.

Topics

Literary Studies Literary Studies, general

Front Matter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
In which the murder takes place Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	1
In which you catch a glimpse of my green card and sample immigrant crêpes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	11
In which I try to examine Nina’s diary but speak with the strangers instead Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	21
In which we observe émigrés on the beach and learn everything we need to know about potential murder suspects Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	28
In which we revisit Nina’s childhood and play hide-and-seek in the Summer Gardens Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	50
In which the detective gets unexpected mail Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	56
In which we finally learn about the men in Nina’s life and meet “the Eurasian genius” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	59
In which we attend the Eurasian tea party and lose all respect for Attila the Hun Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	73
Which might make you blush Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	83
In which we learn about the “other woman” and read the Manifesto of the Kinopeople Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	88
In which we all go to a Hungarian party and learn about Soviet missile launchers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	95
In which I finally see Ninotchka and wonder about the consequences Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	100
In which I spend some time in the Bibliothéque Nationale and stumble upon a conspiracy theory ciphered in the script of Ninotchka Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	110
A digression on common fears and on the importance of dusting, preferably with a wet rag Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	118
In which the best part happens behind the scenes, so the anxious reader can just skip this chapter altogether Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	122
Hardly a chapter at all, a couple of loose pages from my computer diary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	127
Which tells you how to cure a common cold with roasted salt and potato steam and how to remove stains on your red Pioneer tie Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	129
In which the detective misbehaves in the movie theater while watching a film with Gerard Depardieu Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	133
In which we finally meet Nina’s last lover Lionel, learn of his desire to become a great American writer and read his sketch about Russian roulette Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	144
Which tells you what to do when you run into your lover’s wife in the supermarket Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	151
In which we learn how Ninotchka was conceived and what made Greta Garbo laugh Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	154
In which a mysterious character from the third row packs his bags and makes a confession Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	155
Up in the air Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	170
In which we travel to Russia and watch a musical dedicated to the Soviet Constitution Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	174
In which my beautiful grandmother takes her last stroll in Paris Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	185
In which I invite you to come home with me but Tram No. 30 runs very slowly Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	187
In which I bury my grandmother Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	193
Which offers you seven elephants of happiness Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	197
In which we dispel our sad thoughts and learn what Ninel Markovna really did in Paris Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	200
In which you meet my English professor and drink the cheap wine of our youth Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	210
In which we taste a fruit drink and cabbage pirogi at my Alma Mater and learn what happened to Boris Krestovsky in Russia Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	217
In which we stop making Eurasian jokes and explore the double life of Yuri Poltavsky-Rizhsky Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	225
In which you follow me to Moscow and have a pickle treat Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	236
In which we eavesdrop on Comrade Kaganovich Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	242
In which we watch The Lilac Sunset and listen to Kachalsky’s songs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	247
In which I meet Cossacks and have a romantic escapade at the Pizza Hut Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	256
In which the murderer makes a scene Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	263
In which we get homesick in Gorky Park Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	280
In which we leave Russia and bid farewell to Rabinovich and Anka the machine gunner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	285
Which tells you that there is no place like home Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	294
Greta Garbo’s Last Smile Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	298
Postscript Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	302

Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

February 1, 2012

eBook ISBN:

9780791486511

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

Main content:

324

Other:

Total Illustrations: 0

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780791486511

eBook ISBN: 9780791486511

Keywords for this book

Literature : Comparative Literature; Area Studies : Russian Studies; General Interest : Fiction

Audience(s) for this book

Professional and scholarly;

Ninochka

Overview

About this book

Author / Editor information

Topics

Table of contents

Bibliographic data