PSALM

Friedrich Gorenstein (19322002) stands as one of the most original and uncompromising voices in twentiethcentury Russian literature.His novels blend fiction, philosophy, religion, and politics in a way that is unmistakably recognisable as Russian literature, yet he tackles these very same issues as a Jewish writer, a Jewish thinker, and a fiercely independent Jewish voice.Long unavailable in English, Gorenstein now reaches Anglophone readers through Andrew Bromfields masterful translation of Psalmhis second major and most controversial novel. With an illuminating afterword by Marat Grinberg, one of the leading scholars of Gorensteins work, this publication is an event of considerable cultural and literary significance.Written in Moscow in the 1970s and first published in the West in 1986, Psalm is a bold metaphysical narrative told through five parables. Moving across Ukraine, Belarus, and Russiafrom the Holodomor to World War II, the Holocaust, and the postwar antisemitic campaignsthe novel follows Dan, a Jew from the tribe of Dan and the executor of Gods will. As he travels through these landscapes, witnessing devastation, he sets a cosmic drama into motion, punishing the wicked and rewarding the righteous.Provocative, visionary, and deeply unsettling, Psalm invites readers into the heart of Gorensteins RussianJewish imagination. It is a landmark work from the now bygone Soviet Jewish civilizationone that will challenge, inspire, and stay with its readers long after the final page.