The Kukotsky enigma
Subtitle: a novel
By: Ludmila Ulitskaya ; translated from the Russian by Diane Nemec Ignashev
Contributors: Nemec Ignashev, Diane, 1951- translator
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 420
ISBN-13: 9780810133488
Copyright date: 2016
Subjects: Abortion; Families; Government policy; Gynecologists; Fiction
Work titles: Kazus Kukot︠s︡kogo
Description: The central character in Ludmila Ulitskaya's celebrated novel The Kukotsky Enigma is a gynecologist contending with Stalin's prohibition of abortions in 1936. But, in the tradition of Russia's great family novels, the story encompasses the history of two families and unfolds in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the ruins of ancient civilizations on the Black Sea. Their lives raise profound questions about family heritage and genetics, nurture and nature, and life and death. In his struggle to maintain his professional integrity and to keep his work from dividing his family, Kukotsky confronts the moral complexity of reproductive science.
Notes: Translation from Russian of: Kazus Kukot︠s︡kogo.