Gary Shteyngart outlines his five part survival plan for Trump’s America in an in-depth conversation with Forward executive editor Dan Friedman.
Ten years ago I interviewed Gary Shteyngart for a profile in Zeek. At the time his hair was brown and mine covered my head. In the time since then he has continued to put out books at a steady rate of one every three or four years. His earlier novels (“Absurdistan” and “The Russian Debutante’s Handbook”) were about Americans’ crazy adventures in the disintegrating Soviet Empire. His most recent two novels have dealt with dystopian visions of America, especially related to the unhealthy distribution and importance of money and credit.
“This is where being a Soviet Ashkenazi person helps. You have a sixth sense of when things are going to get really bad.”
“The secret of Warren Buffett is that he is the dullest man in America: how do you write a novel about that?”
What Shteyngart is saying is that we live in two worlds at once: the inner and the outer.
The Muslim ban touched a nerve, inspiring Jewish writers like Masha Gessen, Evan Osnos and Gary Shteyngart to tell their own stories.
The Anti-Trump Soviet Immigrants Facebook group, founded by Olga Tomchin, fills an immense need for progressive Russian immigrants.
BACKWARD: Cuban leader Fidel Castro talks Jews, Gary Shteyngart and Katz’s Deli.
Novelist Gary Shteyngart has made his reputation with wry explorations of ambivalent, conflicted, often frustrated love. Now he is launching into a new affair with television, and it seems that he’s carrying a full freight of mixed emotions.
Looks like Ben Stiller wants to bring Gary Shteyngart’s ‘Super Sad True Love Story’ to a TV (or computer screen) near you.