Femina Magazine: Russian Gothic, by Alexander Skorobogatov

We are in Russia under Khrushchev. A man has sunk into insanity, and is convinced that his stage-actress wife is cheating on him and “lying through her teeth.” He thinks he sees her nude on stage while all the men in the audience enjoy the view. He forbids her to go out, drowns himself in vodka, lives in constant suspicion then explodes like a pressure cooker.

A mysterious friend of the couple plays a Mephistophelian role to fan the doubts about Vera’s honesty. This ever so beautiful woman could not but personify carnal and moral corruption. This fascinating internal monologue evokes the absurd of the best Eastern European writers. A dark masterpiece of the absurd.

Russian Gothic, Alexandre Skorobogatov, Ed. Autrement, 116 p