On the Margins of Crime Fiction, in the Heart of Ukraine, with Andreï Kourkov

The novels of Andreï Kurkov, a Ukrainian author who writes in Russian, can be linked to the genre of detective fic-tion. They borrow some features from it to paint the situation of his country since the fall of the Berlin Wall. He focuses on the intersecting destinies of characters who are struggling in a world where the absurd reigns supreme: one can have a penguin for a pet; one negotiates one's survival by slipping between ordinary schemes, mafia machinations and political corruption of all kinds.