The Kingdom of Agamemnon
$42.64
- Paperback
600 pages
- Release Date
8 December 2026
Summary
The final novel by a titan of post-Soviet literature, this fantastical thriller about fakes and imposters in Russian history is both a rewrite of Greek myth and a spiritual sequel of sorts to The Brothers Karamazov.
Vladimir Sharov was one of the most significant and daring novelists of the post-Soviet era, a historian by training whose fantastical fictions unflinchingly plumbed the dark depths of Russia’s past. At once a rewrite of Greek myth and a sequel to The Brothers…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9798896230380 |
|---|---|
| Author: | Vladimir Sharov, Oliver Ready |
| Publisher: | New York Review Books |
| Imprint: | NYRB Classics |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 600 |
| Release Date: | 8 December 2026 |
| Weight: | 369g |
| Dimensions: | 127mm x 203mm |
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Critics Review
“Vladimir Sharov relates to world history as if it were an ocean in his own backyard—an ocean in which he discovered new currents, tracked down sunken treasures, and caught a great many wondrous, fantastical fish of the highest literary quality.” —Vladimir Sorokin
Vladimir Sharov
Vladimir Sharov (1952-2018)
The grandson of Bundist revolutionaries from Ukraine, Vladimir Sharov was born in Moscow to the physicist Anna Livanova and the journalist, children’s author, and novelist Alexander Sharov. His parents’ apartment became a meeting place for Gulag returnees, and the stories Sharov heard there as a child left enduring traces in his life and work. His nine novels, typically centering on the Revolution and the Stalinist era, seek the wellsprings of this period deep in Russia’s past and in its official and unofficial spiritual traditions. The target of critical acrimony in the early post-Soviet years, Sharov had by the end of his life earned the reputation of a “living classic” and became the recipient of several belated awards, including the Russian Booker Prize. His most celebrated works include The Rehearsals and Before and During.
Oliver Ready
Oliver Ready’s translations include Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment for Penguin Classics and Gogol’s And the Earth Will Sit on the Moon: Essential Stories (Pushkin Press). From contemporary Russian fiction, he has translated three novels by Vladimir Sharov—Before and During, The Rehearsals, and Be as Children—and two volumes by Yuri Buida. He is completing a book about Nikolai Gogol, and teaches Russian at the University of Oxford.
Boris Belenkin
Boris Belenkin is a writer, historian, and activist born in Moscow. Since 1988, he has been on the staff of the Russian human rights organization Memorial, and is the Executive Director of Memorial’s Center for Scientific Information and Education. He lives in exile in the Czech Republic with his wife, Nina.
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