Page Four


THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Sundav. Octohe'r TO- 10(

Page Four7THE MICHIGAN DAIL

Gf 4 Vf 171\.

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SUNDAY MAGAZINE

BOOKS

Sasha
A SCHOOL FOR FOOLS, Th
by Sasha Sokolov. Trans. Carl ye
Proffer. Unpublished, 175 pp. lis
By JEFFREY SELBST gli
WHAT CONSTITUTES a tour lis
de force? Is it a controver- of
sial subject? Perhaps the au- for
thor is the lit crowd's latest ter
darling? Or is it--just possi-
bly - that the work itself grabs gor
the reader at page one and I
doesn't let him go until he sinks wto
Itr
downs into a soggy heap at the ma
end? m
The cause for all this rumina- y
tion is a very interesting manu- na
script: a translation of 'A na
School for Fools, the first novel ph
of 31-year-old Russian emigre, to
Alexander (Sasha) Sokolov. we
Jeffrey Seibst is a frequent ple
contributor to the Sunday Mag- lae

Sokolov's

first

nove:

Schizophrenic

e novel was published last
ar in Russian by Ardis Pub-
hers of Ann Arbor. The En-
sh translation is to be pub-
hed by March.
It is fairly plotless, this story
a former student in a school
the retarded. The charac-
rs are Pavel Norgevov, the
ography teacher; the narra-
r; and many characters
hose existence, says transla-
r Carl Proffer, "is . proble-
atic." I'll go one step be
Ind that and say fantastic.
The story, then, is about the
rrator's perceptions of the
'rld, which move with schizo-
renic ease from one subject
another, from "it might as
ll be" to "it is". For exam-
e, the narrator is giving us
dialogue between S. Niko-
ev and F. Muromtsev. They
e discussing the weather, dis-

jointedly. But Yasunari Kawa-
bata, the Japanese writer, is
interjected into the proceedings,
and steadily their conversation;
becomes more and more Japa-
r nese in character, until final-t
ly their names themselves be-
come Japanese, and they areI
discussing the effect of the cli-
-mate on the rice paddies. Then
quickly, a return to reality, and<
we are back to Russian sur-i
roundings again.l
Earlier, the narrator said:
"But we can think up some ar-
bitrary name, names - no mat-I
ter how you look at it - are all
arbitrary, even if they're real
ones. But on the other hand, if
we give him an arbitrary name<
people can think we're making
up something here, trying tot
fool someone, delude them, but
we have absolutely nothing to
hide . "
If names mean nothing, than
something can become, actual-
ly, something else by merely
changing its name. Hence the
names become Japanese, and
momentarily, so does the mi-
lieu.

THE CRUX OF ALL THIS is prove of this book. Aside from
the ever - popular theme of the more obvious reasons it1
reality vs. lack-of-same. Yet would undermine the basis of1
Sokolov's mad hero makes a their very orderly and rationalI
terrifying sane case for the system of thinking, by raising,
blurring of these distinctions., questions about perception that
He tells us that a calendar of can't quietly -: and quickly -A
his life would be a page with be answered.
a thousand dots on it, each one: What is the purpose .oft
representing a day, but which stream - of - consciousness, a1
day and which dot are of no style which Sokolov employs
importance. How can one day heavily in the book? Well, to|
be distinct from another? Days harp on an old theme, it has I
do not follow each other neatly, to do with the creation of that
but come in great heaps and tour - de -- force ideal, thatl
bunches or not at all. And what constant gush of words. In,
is a day? many ways, he uses it success-;
Yot can call this all nominal- fully - witness the rhythm ofl
quibbling if you like, but it un- the narrator's speech as it be-i
derlines the perceptions of the comes a kind of verbal dance-i
story. It comes as no surprise step. This is when Sokolov is at
that the Soviets would not ap- his best:t

"Ask the girl well how do me do you have a machine at
they fit and she like they were home yes only not so good I
tailored for you very good even used to have a Singer foot mod-
take them you won't be sorry el my mother's and when my
only one hundred fifty sets left daughter got married I gave
in that size by tonight there it to her not sorry of course but
won't be any left they're going still I do regret it a little . .."
fast then you inquire it seems While this is a particularly
to me the pants are a little too sterling example of Sokolov's
tight it just seems like that to style, he is not as adept in
you the girl replies but that some places with the use of
style is the most fashionable the technique. But on the over-
now a long jacket and sort of all, the book is word-rich, and
wide but the pants the reverse the author plays as liberally
but if you want you can get with words as he does with
them altered let out in places ideas.
but now for example in the jac- .If it is not 'a tour de force,
ket I would do the reverse take it is only because it doesn't all
it in because the jacket really flow as well as this last ex-
is a trifle wide in the waist but cerpt. But this is a first novel,
your wife will do it or take it and first novels are rarely
to a seamstress and she asks written this well.

Sokolov


azine.

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3 Week Discussion Groups
Choice of 2 Themes to be Developed:

From

Russia.

with

literary

love

Maximizing Your Potential
2 sections A) Tues., Oct. 12-1:30 p.m.
B) Thurs., Oct.14- 10:30 a.m.
Values
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B) Thurs., Oct. 14- 9:15 a.m.
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(3204 MICHIGAN UNION)
call or come in to register (764-7442)


VIETNAM
Hear about it from
Barbara Fuller
a recent visitor

11

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FIRST PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH
1432 WASHTENAW AVE.
4:00 p.m.-TODAY

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(Continued from
WJHEN THE MA
get through,
prints them, the
paid just like any o
-a standard ten p
alty.
"It's illegal for th
out the books," P
"It's also illegal fo
in money. And eve
a legal arranger
would lose 80 to 90
taxes and service<
we find ways other
ing somebody a ch
them the equivalen
alty.:
"If some friend of
going to the Soviet
week" he continued
some object we bou
send somebody a
say, 'Buy a tape re
this and take it t
they may need a t

Do

--"-- n

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STUDENTS!

Page 3) er. Or, since tape recorders rarity. That's especially true it. So we said it would be nice first issue, like the subsequent
NUSCRIPTS are pretty small considering for them, because probably no to have a really nice journal, ones, is a hefty paperback vol-
and - Ardis their value, they can be resold. more than one or two hundred with translations." ume consisting of prose, poetry,
writers get And if we pay $60 for one here, copies will actually get into the At that time, Mr. Proffer criticism and humor translated
ther writers they can probably sell it for Soviet Union." had been toying with the idea of into English. Some of the later
er cent roy- 240 roubles." The first novels that Ardis leaving the field of Slavic lan- issues have included hundreds
The Proffers' connections published were reprints of guages and going to law school. of pages of text in Russian, in
hem to send have also made the reprinting these rare books. They're eas- But he decided to remain in addition to the translations.
roffer said, of already published books an ier to publish than new novels the field, and take up at en- "From almost every author
r us to send easy task. - "it required nothing other joyable sideline to "distract" you can name, we've published
n if we had "Essentially," Mr. Proffer than choosing paper and mak- him. something which had never
iment they explained, "anything we want ng covers," says Mr. Proffer. That was when we found been seen before: letters of
per cent int elie "antwn we wan But at its inception six years out about IBM composers and Tolstoy, stuff by Turgenev, Pas-
charges. So who are book collectors and ago, Ardis had no plans to pub- how cheap they are to rent," ternak. Solzhenitsyn we haven't
than send- anything we want they can get. lish volumes of fiction. Origin- he said. "That coincidence, and got yet, but from any other
eck to' give And it works to their advan- ally, the group's plan did not finding out about cheap print- twentieth century author of any
it of a roy- tage to get books to us, be- go beyond publishing its liter- ing houses in town, led us to note we've published some-
cause then we turn back a cer- ary journal, Russian Literature say, 'We'll take a certain thing."
f a friend is tain number of copies to them. Triquarterly (RLT). amount of money, and we'Il RLT was intended to bring
Union next If somebody gives us a book "We had always complained start this new journal.? So we Russian culture to America,
1, "we send; and we use it, then we make about the journals in the field,"' wrote out to as many people as but it has also spread some of
ught. Or we sure they get 20 or 30 copies to he recalled. "They're really we knew who were working in that culture more widely in
check and use for their book collecting. boring, just deadly scholarly them if the cud pske the Soviet Union. "The jour-
corder with Our printings are so small- stuff. And also, there's basic- tuff.d nal," Proffer remarked, "be-
to someone, 500 to 1,000 - that for them ally no place to publish trans- st he Proffers themselves did came known in Moscow and
.ape record- even that (new book),is a new lations. We had had several the typesetting for the first Leningrad. It 'became a very
- -___.books published by University t e desired thing and was read to
presses, but always with great issare chunk of the ,tnanTlat shreds, because all this stuff
difficulty, always having to con- if stuff they can't publish."
vince them it was worthwhile. It's quite hard to get copies,
They'd ask, 'Is this dissident i."of works of literature in Rus-
literature? If it's not dissident,' sia. "There's not a lot to be
nobody will read it.' So if it was ;'read," explained Proffer. "For
A A A -A some classic they had never contemporary prose it's really
T t . heard of, they wouldn't print Vou deadly. Their trash is not only
I U trashy like ours, but their's is
presents__tendentious, and it's all ten-
see dentious, and it's just unread-
_____ ____ ____ ____able."
E iI fUewWhere does this fact of So-
viet literary life leave Proffer
___ in terms of his political feelings
s.ha ppen toward the U.S.S.R.?
"I'd just like the Russians to
SHOWS TODAY be able to write as they want
AT1-3-5-7-9 caand send it out and have it pub-
} OPEN 12:45 lished wherever they want. It's
LE " WAT* NY very simple. But to say that is
G .170sDA ILYsequivalent to saying you want
to overthrow the government.
f " X"__ _ _ _ _Cause it just ain't that way."

The Peer Counselors in Assertiveness Training
at Counseling Services are offering a

FREE ON-GOING GROUP
IN ASSERTIVENESS TRAINING
IT WILL FEATURE:
-small groups of 4 to 6 people.
-meeting 2 hours weekly for 6 to 8 weeks.
-with a supportive atmosphere.
-teaching learning skills of use in different life situations.
-and focusing on individual assertion issues.
-men's, women's, and coed groups available.
To register for an interview, or for more information, stop by
Counseling Services, 304 Michigan Union, BMon.-Fri., 9-5
or cali 764-8312. Registration ends Thursday, October 14th.

1 A . . 4 j

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J4,



I

r
Sunday
Fried Chicken Dinner
Whipped Potatoes and Creamy Cole Slow $1.99
Sunday Afternoon Football Action on Our 7' TV Screen
DANCING from9 to 12 P.M.
$1.00Cover (50c with Student tD.)
Monday

II,

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:::::~~ ~~.... :: ...: :....*... ..
ANN ARBOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS
SURPLUS SALE
Desks-Cheap! 'Phonographs-Cheap!
Typewriters-Cheap! Books=Cheap!
Tables-Cheap! Furniture-Cheap!
Ann Arbor Airport Hangar Rows K&l
Friday Oct. 15 and Saturday Oct. 16 9A.M. '4P.M.
Thanksgiving
TRAVEL OFFICE
.2nd floor Union

A...A A.A..AA. A


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4
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Juicy Ground Round Burger
Topped with mushrooms, onions, bacon or cheese $1.49
Live Rock 'n Roll Music by LIGHTNIN'
$1.50Cover($1.00 wth StudentI.D.!
Tuesday
Hot Roast Beef Sandwich
Whipped Potatoes and Brown Gravy $2.49
LADIES NIGHT
Reduced prices on all gin, vodka, and tequila drinks
Live Rock 'n Roll Music by LIGHTN IN'
$1.50 Cover ($1.00 wt Student I.D)
Wednesday
Savory Italian Lasagna
Piping Hot Dinner Rolls $1.49
Pitchers of Frosty Beer at Reduced Prices
Live Rock 'n Roll Music by LIGHTNIN'
$1.50 Cover ($.00 with Student I.D.)
Thursday
Juicy Ground Round Burger
Topped with mushrooms, onions, bacon, or cheese $1.49
HAPPY HOUR PRICES ALL NIGHT !
$1.00Cover (50c withStudent ).D.)
Friday
TGIF PARTY
Dancing and All Drinks at Reduced Prices
NO COVER.-.3:00 to 8:00 P.A
Fish 'n Chips
Creamy Cole Slow $1.99.
$1.50 Cover i$1.00 wth Sudnt .D.)
Saturday
VICTORY PARTY at 4:30 P.M.
Live Afternoon) Collegiate Football
on Our 7' TV Screen
Crispy Fried Chicken Dinner
Whipped Potatoes and Creamy Cole Slow $1.99
$1,50) Cover 5i$ 00 with Student 1.D.)

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