“Petrovs in the flu and around it” is the second novel of the writer Alexei Salnikov . It was first published in the Volga magazine in 2016, later it was published by AST . He was awarded the critical jury prize of the FNL Literary Prize (2017) and the National Bestseller Prize (2018).
| Petrov in and around the flu | |
|---|---|
| Genre | novel |
| Author | Alexey Salnikov |
| Original language | Russian |
| Date of first publication | 2016 ( Volga ) |
| Publishing house | AST |
Contents
The novel tells about several New Year's days for car mechanic Petrov and his family, each of whose members gets the flu.
Artistic Features
The novel continues the foundation in the works of J. Joyce, T. Mann, J. Updike and others. The modernist literary tradition of combining two narrative plans - a plot realistic and deep mythological. On a superficial level, the story tells about events in the life of the family of a car mechanic Petrov, both current and chronologically distant from the present. At the deep level of the text, numerous allusions to ancient thanatological and other myths are found, in particular about Hades and Persephone .
Characters of the novel
- Petrov Sr. - car mechanic, comic book author
- Nurylnis Petrova - ex-wife of Petrov, librarian
- Petrov the Younger - the son of Petrov, the younger schoolboy
- Igor Dmitrievich Artyukhin - Petrov’s neighbor in the country, a random acquaintance
- Sergey is a friend and classmate of Petrova, later a student of philological faculty and a novice writer
- Marina - plays the role of the Snow Maiden on a Christmas tree in the childhood of Petrov Sr.
Critical reviews and bonuses
In 2018, the novel was awarded the National Bestseller and NOS Prizes (in the category “Critical Community Prize”).
Stage
In May 2019, it became known that director Kirill Serebrennikov would make a film based on the novel. The film will be a co-production of Russia, France and Switzerland [1] .