The novel Europe (2021) is a sweeping portrayal of three generations of Russian immigrants in France, from the childhood snow in Moscow to the bourgeoise salons in Paris. A novel about exile that turns its own literary lineage inside out: a reconciliation with nostalgia and homesickness, equal parts riddle and elegy. In 2021 it was awarded the European Union Prize for Literature, Svenska Dagbladets award and was nominated for the August Prize.

“For Russian emigrants… the dream of Europe has always been essential. Is Russia a part of Europe? It’s a question that has been debated for centuries. One could argue that Russians perhaps love Europe more than Europeans themselves do.” So says Maxim Grigoriev, author of Europe.

Grigoriev was born in Moscow, but was raised in Stockholm and today splits his time between Porto and Paris. He has worked as a translator of Russian literature but since his debut short story collection Städer (2014), he is an established author in his own right.

A reoccurring theme in his work is the romantic ideal of the cosmopolitan, welcoming Europe. It’s an ideal which slowly cracks under the pressure of a harsher reality. This realisation suddenly gives the city of his childhood a more alluring, illusory shimmer. Grigoriev grapples with this nostalgia and yearning for a lost home in Europe. 

The story of Europe is also a spiteful hymn for the century long Russian emigrant story. The misanthropic graphomaniac, café philosopher and failed terrorist Nina at the centre of it all.

Grigoriev’s debut, the collection of short stories titled Städer moves between the unglamorous outskirts of Berlin, Porto, St. Petersburg, Athens and Odessa. The time of year is perhaps more important than the decade, the atmosphere stronger than the story. The longing to get away permeates Grigoriev’s writing.

Here Maxim Grigoriev will be in conversation with poet and translator Ida Börjel.

Language: Swedish
Saturday 26 March 17.15
Uppsala Stadsteater