copyleft 2012–2020Limonov: A novel by Emmanuel Carrère
Limonov is a 2011 biographical novel by the French writer Emmanuel Carrère. The book is based on the life of Eduard Limonov.
Eduard Limonov was born on 22 February 1943 is a Russian writer and political dissident. Founder and former leader of the banned National Bolshevik Party. An opponent of Vladimir Putin, Limonov is one of the leaders of The Other Russia political bloc.
Limonov was born in former Soviet Union, in Dzerzhinsk. Limonov’s father — then in the military service — was in a state security career and his mother was a homemaker. In the early years of his life family moved to Kharkiv in the Ukrainian SSR, where Limonov grew up. He studied in the H.S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University. By Limonov’s own account, he began writing «very bad» poetry at the age of thirteen and soon after became involved in theft and petty crime as an adolescent hooligan. Limonov adopted his nom de plume for use in literary circles during this time.
Limonov has been married four times. In 1966, together with his first wife, Anna Moiseevna Rubinstein,he first came to Moscow, earning money sewing trousers, but later returned to Kharkov. Limonov moved to Moscow again in 1967, marrying a fellow poet, Yelena Shchapova, in a Russian Orthodox] ceremony in 1973.During the Moscow period Limonov was involved in the Konkret poets’ group and sold volumes of his self-published poetry while doing various day jobs. Having achieved a degree of success in this manner by the mid-1970s, he and his wife emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1974.The exact circumstances of Limonov’s departure are unclear and have been described differently. Reportedly, KGB secret police gave him a choice either to become a snitch, or leave the country. And many more twists and turns adds up beauty to the writing. Limonov: A novel by Emmanuel Carrere is a richly overflowing with both insight and incident, it peels back history to show us society through the astonishing life of one individual.
«DCB News», 12 february 2015
