''Affiliate'' (''Notes of a Radio Presenter'') ( rus, Филиал (Записки ведущего)) is a
novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
by the Russian writer
Sergei Dovlatov
Sergei Donatovich Dovlatov (russian: link=no, Сергей Донатович Довлатов; 1941 1990) was a Soviet journalist and writer. Internationally, he is one of the most popular Russian writers of the late 20th century.
Biography
...
. It was written in November 1987 in New York.
[Сергей Довлатов]
Собрание сочинений в 3-х томах. Том 3.
/ref>
Plot introduction
The story is set in New York City in the 1980s, and then moves to Los Angeles. It is told in the first person by a man called Dalmatov, seemingly loosely based on Dovlatov himself: he is an immigrant from Russia, and an unsuccessful writer, working for the American-based Russian-language press.
Dalmatov presents a programme in Russian on the radio, and is sent to Los Angeles to report on a conference of Soviet dissidents
Soviet dissidents were people who disagreed with certain features of Soviet ideology or with its entirety and who were willing to speak out against them. The term ''dissident'' was used in the Soviet Union in the period from the mid-1960s until t ...
. When he arrives, he bumps into his first love, Tasya, and the memories of their courtship when they both lived in the Soviet Union come flooding back.
Analysis
The story is told in episodic form, in a style reminiscent of aphorisms. Present day events are interspersed with flashbacks from the narrator's youth. There is a heavy emphasis on the absurd, and how it can bring levity to depressing reality.
Publication history
The book was published in '' Zvezda'' magazine in 1989
References
1990 novels
20th-century Russian novels
Novels by Sergei Dovlatov
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