Living a Life

Totally Absurd Tales

Real humour is always black, says Valery Ronshin, a highly imaginative and prolific writer whose work includes a strong element of mysticism. His fresh and distinctive literary style recalls that of the 20th century Russian writers of the absurd such as Daniil Kharms. Ronshin's reality is necessarily absurd, sometimes silly. And always haunted by the grotesque, which may intrude at any moment. In the title story the somnolent night watchman is a self-styled philosopher: "From time to time he got various ideas into his head. Usually other people's. The first idea was this: Life is a dream." The toy factory, where the watchman-philosopher works, turns out to be a top-secret weapons plant. These absurd tales, grounded in the perverseness of present-day Russian reality are what Kharms might have written were he alive today.