Time: Night » (Translated)

Anna Andrianova is a trite poet and disastrous parent living at the margin of a disintegrating Soviet culture. Despite heading a household of females—her mother; her daughter, Alyona; and Alyona's illegitimate children—Anna stubbornly subscribes to the Russian myth of traditional motherhood. Challenging that myth is Alyona, a woman of appallingly bad judgment who both needs Anna and hates her. Anna's voyage into the Soviet utopia's underbelly is a testimony to the dire fate of the mother/martyr under Communist rule, yet the journey is undertaken with warped humor and sarcasm—the expression of Anna's desperation and the source of her strength as well. Published in Russia in 1992, The Time: Night serves as a fascinating and hilarious counterbalance to the sanctimonious depictions of Soviet society in its final years.

About the Author:
Ludmilla Prtrushevskaya was born in 1938 and is considered one of the most prominent dramatists in contemporary Russian theater. She is the author of the collection Immortal Love: Stories and the plays Cinzano and Three Girls in Blue.

Sally Laird translated Voices of Russian Literature: Interviews with Ten Contemporary Writers and Petrushevskaya's Immortal Love: Stories.

(Times Literary Supplement) - Lesley Chamberlain

The writing is beautifully controlled and the spirit large .... She deserves a wide readership.