March Classics
We’re pleased to announce these March releases from NYRB Classics: Vladimir Sorokin’s thrilling apocalyptic epic, Ice Trilogy, now translated in its entirety for the first time; Tove Jansson’s beautiful novel, Fair Play, in an award-winning translation; and J. R. Ackerley’s We Think the World of You, released in an edition that restores the previously expurgated text.
For a limited time, these March titles, as well as all NYRB Classics by Tove Jansson,
Vladimir Sorokin, and J. R. Ackerley, are available at 25% off.
Ice Trilogy
By Vladimir SorokinTranslated from the Russian by Jamey Gambrell
From one of Russia’s boldest and most infamous contemporary authors, now in its first English translation, comes an exhilarating, apocalyptic epic, an exemplary illustration of Sorokin’s singular prose style and sense for modern myth.
Beginning with Bro, Ice Trilogy follows the surreal and destructive journey of ‘the brotherhood’—a severe and severely conflicted group of idealists who are seeking to return to their origins in pure light. Their goal: global destruction. The middle section, Ice, serves as the central episode of Sorokin’s trilogy. In the last, gripping section, 23,000, Sorokin wields an unfettered narrative of suspense as he brings his readers to the brink of the brotherhood’s ultimate fate. To say the least, Sorokin’s harrowing vision of the future is sure to remain a classic of dystopic fiction for many years to come.
Special Offer: $14.96 (25% off)
—Gary Shteyngart
Also by Vladimir Sorokin
The QueueWith a new afterword by the author
Translated by Sally Laird
Retail: $14.95
Special Offer: $11.21 (25% off)
Fair Play
By Tove JanssonIntroduction by Ali Smith
Translated from the Swedish by Thomas Teal
Fair Play follows the life and love of two unforgettable women as they travel, argue, live, and create side by side in a friendship that celebrates truly caring for and respecting a fellow human being.
Mari and Jonna are creators—one of drawing and film, the other of stories—and they share a tender, unique friendship bound together as much by their art as by life itself. Jansson’s Fair Play transports us into their world as they critique each other’s work, summer on an island off the Finnish coast, travel to Arizona, and, in a particularly memorable vignette, get lost in an unforgiving fog on a boat.
Both thoughtful and liberating, Jansson’s delicate exploration of Mari and Jonna’s relationship, which reflects Jansson’s own relationship with lifelong partner and artist Tuulikki Pietilä, is an inspiring tribute to the author’s belief in “work and love.” From start to finish, Fair Play never fails to compel and delight.
Special Offer: $10.50 (25% off)
—Ali Smith
“Fairness and playfulness are at the heart of this delightful novel, which chronicles in 17 luminous snapshots a shared artistic life…. Jansson has a knack for packing a good deal of wit and wisdom into ostensibly simple tales. These deft and gentle stories are as refreshing as a dip in chilly Finnish seas.”
—The Guardian (London)
Also by Tove Jansson
The True DeceiverIntroduction by Ali Smith
Translated by Thomas Teal
Retail: $14.95
Special Offer: $11.21 (25% off)
The Summer BookIntroduction by Kathryn Davis
Translated by Thomas Teal
Retail: $14.00
Special Offer: $10.50 (25% off)
We Think the World of You
By J. R. AckerleyIntroduction by P. N. Furbank
Described by Ackerley himself as “a fairy tale for adults,” We Think the World of You combines acute social realism and dark fantasy.
Frank, Ackerley’s narrator, is a smart, self-righteous civil servant who has just hit middle-age; he is angry, acerbic and lonely. And he has just fallen for his neighbor, Johnny, a handsome, young married man with a wife, children, and a German shepherd named Evie. When the carefree Johnny is arrested for petty theft, Frank is forced to fight Johnny’s family for access to the prison in which his beloved is incarcerated. Frank’s struggle to stay connected to Johnny spirals out into a fantastical and often hilarious tale of star-crossed love, social misunderstandings, and the true meaning of caring for another.
Retail: $14.95
Special Offer: $11.21 (25% off)
—New Statesman
“J. R. Ackerley’s We Think the World of You charts an unlikely course of a love affair…. The results are moving and unexpected. The hinge upon which the novel swings—and shuts—is that in matters of the heart, you must be careful what you wish for.”
—Open Letters Monthly
Also by J. R. Ackerley
My Dog TulipIntroduction by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
Retail: $14.00
Special Offer: $10.50 (25% off)
My Father and MyselfIntroduction by W. H. Auden
Retail: $15.95
Special Offer: $11.96 (25% off)
Hindoo HolidayIntroduction by Eliot Weinberger
Retail: $16.95
Special Offer: $12.71 (25% off)
Upcoming Events
An Evening in Celebration of the Novels of Tove Jansson
Monday, March 21, 2011, at 6:30 p.m.
Scandinavia House
58 Park Avenue
New York City
(212) 847-9740
Free and Open to the Public
Reservations recommended. Call or email.
Sophia Jansson, the niece of the late Tove Jansson and the chairman of Oy Moomin Characters, Ltd, will speak about her famous aunt in conversation with Thomas Teal, translator of Jansson’s novels, and Aili Flint, the head of Columbia University’s Finnish Studies Program.
Tuomas Hiltunen will moderate the panel and actors Taina Elg and Heli Sirviö will perform short, dramatic readings from the novels. Ambassador Ritva Jolkkonen, Consul General of Finland in New York, will introduce the evening.
The event is co-sponsored by the American-Scandinavian Foundation, the American Scandinavian Society of New York, and NYRB Classics.
Thomas Teal on Translating Tove Jansson’s Novels
Friday April 8, 2011, at 3:00 p. m.
Harvard Bookstore
1256 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 661–1515
As part of Harvard Bookstore’s Friday Forum series, Thomas Teal, translator of Tove Jansson’s novels, will speak about translating her works from the original.
March 8, 2011, 12:38 p.m.