Novel with Cocaine (European Classics) [Paperback]

M. Ageyev (Author), Michael Henry Heim (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 28, 1998 | Series: European Classics

A bizarre and deeply disturbing account of a young man’s descent into addiction, this story brilliantly mirrors the tumultuous events of early 20th-century Russian history. Struggling with the confusion and insecurities that adolescence brings, Vadim seeks an outlet for his frustration. Following unfulfilling attempts at classroom rebellion, filial disobedience, and teenage sex, he is drawn further and further into the world of illicit drugs. As his desire to experiment with narcotics grows stronger, so too do his feelings of worthlessness and isolation; and his ultimate physical surrender to cocaine mirrors his nation's psychological capitulation to a world where morals no longer apply. This extraordinary work, astonishingly prescient for its time, is written by the pseudonymous M. Ageyev.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Russian

About the Author

Toby Young is the author of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People. Hugh Aplin won the Rossica Translation Prize—an award for excellence in Russian to English literary translation—for his work translating A Romance with Cocaine.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: Northwestern University Press; 1 edition (October 28, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810117096
• ISBN-13: 978-0810117099
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #473,133 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars True Decadence, June 10, 2004

By 

J from NY (New York) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Novel with Cocaine (European Classics) (Paperback)

This strange little tale of a young man's descent into cocaine addiction is less interesting for it's portrayal of the youthful anti-hero's chemical use as his astounding philosophical insights. Vadim does not actually use cocaine until the end of the novel ('the beginning of the end', as it were) and the novel is mostly composed of his Dostoevskian self loathing and inability to relate to his peers on any level. It is almost an exercise in depressive solipsism; while Vadim's peers play a large role in the novel his inner world is so tortured and miles apart from them that the author might as well have portrayed him as a complete misanthrope. In the opening we get a feel for where his moral compass is swinging; he gives a venereal disease to a young woman in full cognizance of what he is doing. He agonizes over it, but this does not prevent him from actually doing it. The most catching scenes in the novel are when his classmates, thrown into a kind of cocaine induced revolt against the orthodoxy of the school they attend, verbally attack priests and teachers. Burkewitz, a character we encounter later in the book, gives a particularly interesting speech to the headmaster priest of the school in the middle of a sermon. There are thoroughly disturbing scenes; Vadim strikes his mother, steals from her, all the while recognizing her basic goodness and frail attempts to relate to him. Vadim wants to consider himself exceptional, a unique student and son, and at the same time loathes himself. Many of his self evaluations strike a schizoid note. His entrance into the world of cocaine use is preceded by his rejection of a girl with whom he was too fearful to consummate his relationship. Like everyone else, she has a false image of him and rejects him entirely when he fails to live up to it. We are only given blurry pictures of the lengths to which he goes to obtain cocaine after a few seamy scenes in which his 'friends' instruct him in the mechanics of use. "My son is a thief", his mother wails. Vadim's disturbing coke dreams are not of the usual variety; far from being visions of grandiosity, they are unconscious and violent recognitions of his own guilt and wretchedness. I wouldn't hesitate to say that this is one of the most bizarre novels I have ever encountered. It oscillates between philosophy, self loathing and insanity, and does not strike an even balance. I would recommend it to anyone, not for knowledge of a cocaine addict's world (this is not a realistic depiction) but as a jolting primer for any study or enjoyment of the literature of decadence.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why mess with an Overcoat?

, August 7, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Novel With Cocaine (Paperback)

Losing his "nasal virginity" in an adventure into the wonders and horrors of cocaine addiction, the central character finds his answer to insecurity and social ineptitude in a potent white powder as his peer in The Overcoat seeks the same comfort in a dark, tattered garment.

If the pseudonym doesn't give it away, this anonymous author provides another dim glance into nineteenth century St. Petersberg that seems a brushstroke within the same portrait alongside those by Gogol and Dostoevsky. Imagine the Underground Man not tormenting his maid, but out in the streets snorting cocaine, searching for a female companion.

Novel with Cocaine is not essential reading, but it is another worthwhile glimpse at the literary products of desperate and dark nineteenth century St. Petersberg. Glorification of drug use is a problem in the late twentieth century. Novel with Cocaine will force you to think again with grave reluctance that neither McInerney nor Ellis have been able to posit in the minds of their readers.

15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Existentialism without the pompousness of Camus & Sartre, August 10, 2000

By 

Oz du Soleil - See all my reviews

This review is from: Novel with Cocaine (European Classics) (Paperback)

Having already been a fan of Dostoevsky & Tolstoy, it was Charles Bukowski who pointed me back to the Russians as being the only producers of literature that's worth reading. "A Novel with Cocaine" is a fine example of a novel that has something worthwhile on its pages.

Might we say that it's existentialist in it thinking? The individual caught in a universe that really doesn't give a damn about the individual... and the individual's struggle to find something to do, and a place to fit.

Camus and Sartre are puny little runts compared to Ageyev! Ageyev gives us the moment-to-moment REAL stuff that actually matters. One character goes up in front of his high school math classs to work out a problem... he sneezes and boogers are hanging out of his face while the class laughs. How does he deal with this?

Ageyev keeps his work as something regular folks can identify with. Not all of his situations deal with boogers (or things just as gross), but they're all common enough to keep a reader's interest without drawing the reader into pompous brain-teasers that few of us can access.

Conversely, Camus and Sartre take us into a high-minded realm which is interesting, but when will I ever have to think about whether or not to kill a wheelchair-bound guy because he doesn't have the nerve to do it himself? How many of our lives are impacted by such decisions?

Ageyev is much more interesting. He's a great writer. He's got a great sense of humor and he's FIRMLY rooted in common existence.

Though the book is titled "A Novel with Cocaine," sure there's a great deal about the main characters travels through the underworld of drugs and drug people and the activities between them. But, I think that this is more of a way for the writer to access his more interesting ideas--as opposed to writing a book that's really about cocaine.