Home    Awards    New Books    Coming Soon    Most Popular    Top Authors    Series    Years    
book cover of 

The Commissariat of Enlightenment 

by

Ken Kalfus

The Commissariat of Enlightenment

(2003)
A novel by

Ken Kalfus

"Funny, hip...smart, technically innovative...wise, moving, and profound...Kalfus is all of these at once."
David Foster Wallace


"Wry, humane, precise and beautifully smitten with ideas. "
Jonathan Franzen


 

Ken Kalfus's mesmerising first novel is about two events that become milestones in the history of the modern media: the death of Tolstoy and the murder of Lenin. One yound filmmaker was there. The story begins in 1910, as Leo Tolstoy lies dying in Astapovo, a railway station in provincial Russia. Members of the press from around the world have descended upon this sleepy hamlet to record his passing for a public suddenly ravenous for celebrity news. Cinema is the newcomer, and Nikolai Gribshin arrives to capture the extraordinary scene and learn how to wield his camera as a political tool. At this historic moment, he comes across two men - the scientist, Professor Vorobev, and the revolutionist, Joseph Stalin - who have radical, mysterious plans for the future. Soon they will accompany him on a long, cold march through an era of brutality and absurdity, as science struggles with superstition. Brimming with intellect, humour, and rich, inventive storytelling, THE COMMISSARIAT OF ENLIGHTENMENT is a novel of ideas that brilliantly evokes the tragi-comic world of revolutionary Russia as well as the birth of today's image-based society.
 
Similar Books by other authors...

 
Used availability for Ken Kalfus's The Commissariat of Enlightenment


See all available used copies of this book at: Abebooks UK or Abebooks US
 

 

Hardback Editions

January 2003 : Hardback
Cover of ISBN: 0060501367Title: The Commissariat of Enlightenment
Author(s): Ken Kalfus
ISBN: 0-06-050136-7 / 978-0-06-050136-5 (USA edition)
Publisher: HarperCollins Canada / Ecco
Availability: Amazon   Amazon UK   Amazon CA   
More details...

December 2002 : Hardback
Cover of ISBN: B000IOESQKTitle: The Commissariat of Enlightenment: A Novel
Author(s): Ken Kalfus
Availability: Amazon   Amazon UK   
More details...

Paperback Editions

February 2004 : Paperback
Cover of ISBN: 0060501391Title: The Commissariat of Enlightenment: A Novel
Author(s): Ken Kalfus
ISBN: 0-06-050139-1 / 978-0-06-050139-6 (USA edition)
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Availability: Amazon   Amazon UK   Amazon CA   
More details...

February 2004 : Paperback
Cover of ISBN: 0743231155Title: The Commissariat of Enlightenment
Author(s): Ken Kalfus
ISBN: 0-7432-3115-5 / 978-0-7432-3115-2 (USA edition)
Publisher: Scribner
Availability: Amazon   Amazon UK   
More details...

February 2003 : Paperback
Cover of ISBN: 0743231147Title: The Commissariat of Enlightenment
Author(s): Ken Kalfus
ISBN: 0-7432-3114-7 / 978-0-7432-3114-5 (USA edition)
Publisher: Scribner
Availability: Amazon   Amazon UK   
More details...

 


Search for    

© 2008 FantasticFiction
Questions? Comments? Corrections? Please email webmaster@fantasticfiction.co.uk