Exklusiv mini-intervju med Gary Shteyngart!

Gary Shteyngart - författaren bakom Den ryske debutantens handbok och Absurdistan - har snabbt blivit en av mina absoluta favoriter. Läs mina hyllingar här och här. Efter det att jag läst ut hans senaste (Absurdistan - som faktiskt har ett par år på nacken) försökte jag luska ut vad som komma skall, men jag hittade inte mer än ett par rader i någon intervju där Shteyngart säger att han är trött på ryssar och funderar på att skriva något om Koreaner i LA. Så jag tog saken i egna händer. Att kontakta Shteyngart var inte svårt, men det tog tid innan jag fick svar. Å andra sidan är det faktiskt rätt imponerande att han överhuvudtaget tar sig tid att låta sig "intervjuas" av obetydliga bloggar från fjärran länder! Svaren är roliga, precis som man kan förvänta sig. Om det här är något som uppskattas ska jag försöka göra det fler gånger, så låt mig veta.


First, can you tell my readers (those who may not know who you are) a little bit about yourself?

well, i'm pretty short which is why i don't travel to sweden. i spent 4 months in berlin and began to develop all sorts of napoleonic height complexes. in sweden i imagine it would be even worse. i was born in leningrad to a set of short parents. to compensate, my books are pretty long, the first one clocked in at almost 500 pages in the US. it's as thick as a brick and makes about as much sense.

Im dying to know if you have started on your next book? If so, can you tell us anything about it?

my new book is about the collapse of the united states. i started it in 2006 and it was about this terrible financial crisis that destroyed the american economy. as you can imagine, i've been feverishly rewriting it since most of the things i wrote about have come to pass. now the country gets taken over by the IMF and a norwegian sovereign wealth fund. oh, it's also a love story between a young korean girl and an older russian jew. how do i come up with this stuff?

I love the fact that you wrote "yourself" into Abstudistan as Jerry Shteynfarb, why did you do that?

writers live such self-absorbed lives these days. it's like you're not just a "writer" anymore you're your own multimedia performance art project. maybe i'll wear a panda suit to my next reading and play the accordion. wait, how does that answer your question?

I have noticed that there seems to be an abundance of funny Jewish writers (yourself, Heller, Chabon, etc) out there, why do you that is?

troubling times call for big laughs. and it's never much fun to be a jew. although the earnings are nice.

At last, what are you reading right now?
i don't think i'm reading anything right now. come to think of it, i'm drunk!