Ninochka

Svetlana Boym

Description

A playful literary mystery set in the 1930s and 1990s, Ninochka tells the double tale of two women exiles who are both homesick and sick of home. Tanya, a Russian immigrant living in New York, travels to Paris in an attempt to reconstruct the secret life of Nina B., who was murdered there almost sixty years ago, on the eve of World War II. The murder was never solved, and in an attempt to crack the case, Tanya takes possession of Nina's handbag, which contains her diaries, love letters, kits for embroidering Russian blouses, a mysterious treatise on Eurasian supremacy, and a review of Ninotchka, the film in which Greta Garbo played a KGB agent who finds romance in Paris.

Among the potential murder suspects are a charismatic professor and nationalist leader, an aspiring American songwriter, an aging Trotskyite, a Hungarian con artist, a heavy-drinking singer of nostalgic romance, and an athletic Comrade X of unknown origins who was rumored to have returned to the Soviet Union. As Tanya is drawn into this immigrant underworld of displaced people, double agents, and dreamers, she finds herself more and more implicated in the life of the murdered woman. Ultimately, she is forced to return to her native country, where she confronts her own homesickness in the changing post-Soviet world.

1. In which the murder takes place

2. In which you catch a glimpse of my green card and sample immigrant crêpes

3. In which I try to examine Nina's diary but speak with the strangers instead

4. In which we observe émigrés on the beach and learn everything we need to know about potential murder suspects

5. In which we revisit Nina's childhood and play hide-and-seek in the Summer Gardens

6. In which the detective gets unexpected mail

7. In which we finally learn about the men in Nina's life and meet "the Eurasian genius"

8. In which we attend the Eurasian tea party and lose all respect for Attila the Hun

9. Which might make you blush

10. In which we learn about the "other woman" and read the Manifesto of the Kinopeople

11. In which we all go to a Hungarian party and learn about Soviet missile launchers

12. In which I finally see Ninotchka and wonder about the consequences

13. In which I spend some time in the Bibliothéque Nationale and stumble upon a conspiracy theory ciphered in the script of Ninotchka

14. A digression on common fears and on the importance of dusting, preferably with a wet rag

15. In which the best part happens behind the scenes, so the anxious reader can just skip this chapter altogether

15-A. Hardly a chapter at all, a couple of loose pages from my computer diary

16. Which tells you how to cure a common cold with roasted salt and potato steam and how to remove stains on your red Pioneer tie

17. In which the detective misbehaves in the movie theater while watching a film with Gerard Depardieu

18. In which we finally meet Nina's last lover Lionel, learn of his desire to become a great American writer and read his sketch about Russian roulette

19. Which tells you what to do when you run into your lover's wife in the supermarket

20. In which we learn how Ninotchka was conceived and what made Greta Garbo laugh

21. In which a mysterious character from the third row packs his bags and makes a confession

22. Up in the air

23. In which we travel to Russia and watch a musical dedicated to the Soviet Constitution

24. In which my beautiful grandmother takes her last stroll in Paris

25. In which I invite you to come home with me but Tram No. 30 runs very slowly

26. In which I bury my grandmother

27. Which offers you seven elephants of happiness

28. In which we dispel our sad thoughts and learn what Ninel Markovna really did in Paris

29. In which you meet my English professor and drink the cheap wine of our youth

30. In which we taste a fruit drink and cabbage pirogi at my Alma Mater and learn what happened to Boris Krestovsky in Russia

31. In which we stop making Eurasian jokes and explore the double life of Yuri Poltavsky-Rizhsky

32. In which you follow me to Moscow and have a pickle treat

33. In which we eavesdrop on Comrade Kaganovich

34. In which we watch The Lilac Sunset and listen to Kachalsky's songs

35. In which I meet Cossacks and have a romantic escapade at the Pizza Hut

36. In which the murderer makes a scene

37. In which we get homesick in Gorky Park

38. In which we leave Russia and bid farewell to Rabinovich and Anka the machine gunner

39. Which tells you that there is no place like home

40. Greta Garbo's Last Smile

Postscript

Sujets

• Historical fiction

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9780791486511
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Ninochka

SUNY series, The Margins of Literature

Mihai I. Spariosu, editor

Ninochka A Novel

Svetlana Boym

State University of New York Press

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2003 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207

Production by Judith Block Marketing by Fran Keneston

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Boym, Svetlana Ninochka : a novel / Svetlana Boym. p. cm. — (SUNY series, the margins of literature) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-7914-5773-7 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-5774-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Women detectives—France—Fiction. 2. Americans—Russia (Federation)—Fiction. 3. Russia (Federation)—Fiction. 4. Americans— France—Fiction. 5. Russians—France—Fiction. 6. Russian Americans— Fiction. 7. Women immigrants—Fiction. 8. Paris (France)— Fiction. 9. Conspiracies—Fiction. I. Title. II. Series.

PS3602.O974N56 2003 813'.54—dc21

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2003050528

Contents

Chapter One In which the murder takes place

Chapter Two In which you catch a glimpse of my green card and sample immigrant crêpes

Chapter Three In which I try to examine Nina’s diary but speak with the strangers instead

Chapter Four In which we observe émigrés on the beach and learn everything we need to know about potential murder suspects

Chapter Five In which we revisit Nina’s childhood and play hide-and-seek in the Summer Gardens

Chapter Six In which the detective gets unexpected mail

Chapter Seven In which we finally learn about the men in Nina’s life and meet “the Eurasian genius”

Chapter Eight In which we attend the Eurasian tea party and lose all respect for Attila the Hun

v

1

11

21

28

50

56

59

73

Chapter Nine Which might make you blush

Contents

Chapter Ten In which we learn about the “other woman” and read the Manifesto of the Kinopeople

Chapter Eleven In which we all go to a Hungarian party and learn about Soviet missile launchers

Chapter Twelve In which I finally seeNinotchkaand wonder about the consequences

Chapter Thirteen In which I spend some time in the Bibliothéque Nationale and stumble upon a conspiracy theory ciphered in the script ofNinotchka

Chapter Fourteen A digression on common fears and on the importance of dusting, preferably with a wet rag

Chapter Fifteen In which the best part happens behind the scenes, so the anxious reader can just skip this chapter altogether

Chapter FifteenA Hardly a chapter at all, a couple of loose pages from my computer diary

Chapter Sixteen Which tells you how to cure a common cold with roasted salt and potato steam and how to remove stains on your red Pioneer tie

Chapter Seventeen In which the detective misbehaves in the movie theater while watching a film with Gerard Depardieu

Chapter Eighteen In which we finally meet Nina’s last lover Lionel, learn of his desire to become a great American writer and read his sketch about Russian roulette

vi

83

88

95

100

110

118

122

127

129

133

144

Contents

Chapter Nineteen Which tells you what to do when you run into your lover’s wife in the supermarket

Chapter Twenty In which we learn howNinotchkawas conceived and what made Greta Garbo laugh

Chapter TwentyOne In which a mysterious character from the third row packs his bags and makes a confession

Chapter TwentyTwo Up in the air

Chapter TwentyThree In which we travel to Russia and watch a musical dedicated to the Soviet Constitution

Chapter TwentyFour In which my beautiful grandmother takes her last stroll in Paris

Chapter TwentyFive In which I invite you to come home with me but Tram No. 30 runs very slowly

Chapter TwentySix In which I bury my grandmother

Chapter TwentySeven Which offers you seven elephants of happiness

Chapter TwentyEight In which we dispel our sad thoughts and learn what Ninel Markovna really did in Paris

Chapter TwentyNine In which you meet my English professor and drink the cheap wine of our youth

Chapter Thirty In which we taste a fruit drink and cabbage pirogi at myAlma Materand learn what happened to Boris Krestovsky in Russia

vii

151

154

155

170

174

185

187

193

197

200

210

217

Contents

Chapter ThirtyOne In which we stop making Eurasian jokes and explore the double life of Yuri Poltavsky-Rizhsky

Chapter ThirtyTwo In which you follow me to Moscow and have a pickle treat

Chapter ThirtyThree In which we eavesdrop on Comrade Kaganovich

Chapter ThirtyFour In which we watch Kachalsky’s songs

The Lilac Sunset

and listen to

Chapter ThirtyFive In which I meet Cossacks and have a romantic escapade at the Pizza Hut

Chapter ThirtySix In which the murderer makes a scene

Chapter ThirtySeven In which we get homesick in Gorky Park

Chapter ThirtyEight In which we leave Russia and bid farewell to Rabinovich and Anka the machine gunner

Chapter ThirtyNine Which tells you that there is no place like home Chapter Forty Greta Garbo’s Last Smile Postscript

viii

225

236

242

247

256

263

280

285

294

298 302

Ninochka

1 In which the murder takes place

MGM presents Greta Garbo in Ninotchka an Ernst Lubitsch production 1939

“This picture takes place in Paris in those wonderful days when a siren was a brunette and not an alarm—and if a Frenchman turned out the light it was not on account of an air raid!”

The lobby of the Grand Hotel with its gilded chandelier, spring slush on the marble staircase, and someone’s back in a gray trenchcoat leaning against a column. At first you hesitate to enter, you press your face against the window, breathe on the squeaky clean glass. Maybe it’s the wrong address after all, it just doesn’t look right. But then you find yourself caught up in the revolving door. Somebody must have pushed you from behind. Go ahead, comrade, it’s your turn. It is too late to slow down now. There is no way back, no escape. “It’s not my kind of movie,” whispered Nina to Lionel. She moved closer to him, but not too close. She kept some distance, letting their clothes, but not their bodies, touch. Meanwhile three comrades, Bolsheviks, already made their way through the Grand Hotel lobby and were now entering the Royal Suite. They were in Paris on a secret mission: to sell the crown jewels and to save Soviet agriculture. Paris bewitched the comrades. Before they knew

1