Deceit Audiobook

Once considered the Russian Proust Yuri Felsen tells the story of an obsessive love affair set in interwar Europe in Deceit an experimental novel in the form of a diary that is an asyetundiscovered landmark of Russian migr literature

We meet our unnamed narrator in Paris in the 20s where he finds himself an expat after the Russian Revolution At a friends request he meets the beautiful clever socialite Lyolya also a recent exile from Russia What begins as casual friendship quickly turns into fascination and obsession as Lyolya gives mixed signals and pursues other men Our narrator emerging from a depression is soon overwhelmed by the very idea of her which begins to contour all of his observations thoughts and feelings While Lyolya continues to live a life unencumbered by the forces of social convention and history our narrators revelations written in diary form grow increasingly painful familiar and rich with psychological introspection

Quite unlike any other writer in the Russian canon Felsen evokes in poetic and idiosyncratic prose not only the Zeitgeist of interwar Europe and his migr milieu but also the existential crisis of the age