The novel of the French classic, Vilnius Jew Romain Gary gives rise to many associations. These are the dances of death, a feast during the plague, Dante’s circles of hell, these are Bosch, Brueghel and Goya, this is Gogol, Dostoevsky, Sologub and all the demons of world culture.
Romain Gary began a novel at the age of 19, and at 25 gave it to a woman, as they give an oath of eternal love, and never wrote so sarcastically, boldly, grotesquely. Never again did he allow himself cynicism and jokes blacker than a raven’s wing, did not torment the reader with such keen compassion for human misfortunes, endurable only if the world is imagined as a satanic carousel. Never again was he such a blasphemer and a fan of obscenities. It was not published during his lifetime — and it was from this novel that Gary grew the following books. In general, the shocking adventures of a drunken Tulip in the next world are a phantasmagoria and a must-read of the season: to be horrified, admire and laugh out loud.
Translation from French by Natalia Mavlevich. Corpus, 256 p., 2015.