About
Victor Erofeyev (Viktor Vladimirovich Yerofeyev) is a Russian writer born in Moscow in 1947. Son of a Soviet diplomat, he spent part of his childhood in Paris. Graduating in philology from Moscow State University (1970), he earned a doctorate in 1975 with a thesis on Dostoevsky and French existentialism. In 1979, he co-organized the underground almanac Metropol, leading to his expulsion from the Union of Soviet Writers and a publication ban until 1988. His short story collection Life with an Idiot (1980) and novel Russian Beauty (1990) brought him fame. He coined the concept of 'literature of evil' and received the Nabokov Prize (1992). After the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, he went into exile in Berlin.
* 1947-09-19
Major works
- Life with an Idiot (1980)short story collection
- Russian Beauty (1990)novel
- The Good Stalin (2004)autobiographical novel
- The Light of the Devil (2008)novel
- The Great Gopnik (2023)novel
Key milestones
- 1979Co-organized the underground almanac Metropol, leading to his expulsion from the Union of Soviet Writers.
- 1992Awarded the Vladimir Nabokov Prize.
- 2022Left Russia after the invasion of Ukraine and settled in exile in Berlin.
Themes
postmodernismironygrotesquetransgressioncritique of socialist realism
Sources: id.loc.gov · cccb.org · bigenc.ru