''Novel with Cocaine'', (russian: Роман с кокаином, Roman s kokainom, also translated as ''Cocain Romance'' and ''Romance with Cocaine''), is a novel first published in

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maxi ...

in a Russian

émigré An ''émigré'' () is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social self-exile. The word is the past participle of the French ''émigrer'', "to emigrate". French Huguenots Many French Huguenots fled France followin ...

literary magazine ''Chisla'' (''Numbers'') under a pen name M. Ageyev. The English translation of the title fails to convey the double meaning of the Russian "Роман," meaning both "novel" and "romance".

Description

''Novel with Cocaine'' is a Dostoevskyan

psychological novel In literature, psychological fiction (also psychological realism) is a narrative genre that emphasizes interior characterization and motivation to explore the spiritual, emotional, and mental lives of the characters. The mode of narration exami ...

of ideas, which explores the interaction between psychology, philosophy, and ideology in its frank portrayal of an adolescent's cocaine addiction. The story relates the formative experiences of narrator Vadim at school and with women before he turns to drug abuse and the philosophical reflections to which it gives rise. Although Ageyev makes little explicit reference to the

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

, the novel's obsession with addictive forms of thinking finds resonance in the historical background, in which "our inborn feelings of humanity and justice" provoke "the cruelties and satanic transgressions committed in its name".

Publication history

Following its original publication in ''Numbers,'' the novel was published in book form; it was scorned as decadent and disgusting, to use the term applied to it by

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bor ...

. In 1983 the novel was translated into French and published to nearly unanimous praise; an English translation (by Michael Henry Heim) was published in 1984. After the French translation was published, there was some brief speculation in literary circles as to whether ''Novel with Cocaine'' might actually be the work of Nabokov, perhaps one of his mystifications; the consensus is now that Nabokov was not the author. Nabokov's son Dmitri addresses this issue in an afterword to his 1986 English translation of VN's novel ''

The Enchanter ''The Enchanter'' is a novella written by Vladimir Nabokov in Paris in 1939. As ''Волшебник (Volshebnik)'' it was his last work of fiction written in Russian. Nabokov never published it during his lifetime. After his death, his son D ...

'', in which he claims the author is Mark Levi.

English translations

*''Novel with Cocaine'', translated by Michael Henry Heim, 1984 *''A Romance with Cocaine'', translated by Hugh Aplin, 2008

References

1934 Russian novels Books about cocaine Novels set in Moscow Novels set in Russia Novels set in the Russian Revolution Censored books Russian bildungsromans {{1930s-bildungsroman-stub