A satirical novel of alcohol, politics, Soviet society, and love. The story of a cable fitter who is fired from his job for charting his co-workers' jobs against the amount of alcohol they have consumed.
In this classic of Russian humor and social commentary, a fired cable fitter goes on a binge and hopes a train to Petushki (where his "most beloved of trollops" awaits). On the way he bestows upon angels, fellow passengers, and the world at large a magnificent monologue on alcohol, politics, society, alcohol, philosophy, the pains of love, and, of course, alcohol.
“"The comic high-water mark of the Brezhnev era." --David Remnick, Village Voice”
"Erofeev's delirium tremens journey is a tale of restless, hopeless alienation and yet it is soulful in the Russian manner. . . . The poignancy of Venya's follies is almost unbearable." --Elizabeth Hardwick, New Republic
"Linguistically, it is as intoxicating as Gogol. Erofeev's Russian is rich, expressive, multilayered: there are the crudest vulgarities next to some of the most poetic prose imaginable, and the work becomes epic." --World Literature Today
"The comic high-water mark of the Brezhnev era." --David Remnick, Village Voice
VENEDIKT VASILYEVICH EROFEEV (also Benedict Yerofeyev, 1938-1990) was a noted Soviet-era Russian satirist.
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