Marusya Klimova (first name also transliterated Marusia or Maroussia; russian: Мару́ся Кли́мова; real name Tatyana Nikolayevna Kondratovich, ; born January 14, 1961 in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

), is a Russian writer and translator. She lives in Saint Petersburg.

Biography

Marusya Klimova is one of the most prominent representatives of counter−culture in modern

Russian literature Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia and its émigrés and to Russian language, Russian-language literature. The roots of Russian literature can be traced to the Middle Ages, when epics and chronicles in Old East Slavic were c ...

. In Marusya Klimova's oeuvre there's a surprising combination of postmodernist irony, immoralism, misanthropy and an adherence to a cult of pure beauty and genius in the spirit of decadence of the Age of

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

. Early in life she was connected to the underground culture of Leningrad. In early 90s she lived in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. In her autobiographical novels («Blue Blood» (1991), «The Little House at Bois-Colombes» (1998), «The Blonde Beasts» (2001)) there's a wide panorama of European life around 80s-90s described. The author creates the images of newly appeared Russian dandies and transvestites, who easily change their masks and dresses. Those metaphors correspond to the atmosphere of a universal carnival of those years, which were marked by prompt changes of social identifications. «My History of the Russian Literature» (2004) is a union of a collection of essay and a novel of ideas. Classical Russian writers' destinies and works are represented and seen in that book as the facts and from the perspective of personal biography of the author. This book, abounding of paradoxical and exaggerated subjective judgements, has caused a huge indignation in readers' minds and environment. It became one of the most scandalous phenomena of Russian literature in the last decade. Marusya Klimova's works have been translated to French, German, English, Estonian, Serbian and Italian languages. She is also known as a translator. Marusya Klimova is the author of translations from French to Russian ( Louis-Ferdinand Céline,

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, etc.). She is a Chevalier of the

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

(2006).

Books

*''Golubaya krov'' (''Blue Blood'', 1996) *''Domik v Bua-Colomb'' (''The Little House at Bois-Colombes'', 1998) *''Morskiye rasskazy'' (''Marine Stories'', 1999) *''Belokurye bestii'' (''The Blonde Beasts'', 2001) *''Selin v Rossii'' (''Céline in Russia'', 2000) *''Moya istoriya russkoy literatury'' (''My History of Russian Literature'', 2004) *''Parizhskiye vstrechi'' (''Paris Meetings'', 2004) *''Moya teoriya literatury'' (''My Theory of Literature'', 2009) *''Portret hudojnitzy v junosti'' (''A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Woman'', 2012) *''Bezumnaja mgla '' (''Mad Haze'', 2013) *''Profil Gelderlina na noge anglijskogo poeta'' (''Holderlin Profile On The Leg Of The English Poet'', 2016) *'' Holod i otchujdenie '' ('' Cold and alienation'', 2019)

Notes

*(en
Interview for Underpass.
(Underpass, August 2017) *(en
Fair-haired Furies. Extract from the novel «The Blonde Beasts».
(Underpass, August 2017) *(it
Elisa Navetta, "I 'mostri' di Marusja Klimova".
(Rome, ''Slavia''

2001) *(fr
Entretien avec Maroussia Klimova.
Propos recueillis par Guillaume Fau

* (de
Karlheinz Kasper. Das literarische Leben in Russland 2001.
„Osteuropa“ N4, 2002
Website for author
(in Russian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Klimova, Marusya 1961 births Living people Russian women novelists Writers from Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg State University alumni Postmodern writers Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres