"Selin's stories are the finest in this anthology of young authors..." — Literary Gazette
"Selin is a modern-day E.T. A.Hoffmann..." — ExLibris
Alexander Selin belongs to that rare Chekhovian type of writer who tells a story not straightforwardly but through a series of carefully chosen and cleverly arranged vivid details. Perhaps Selin has even more in common with Gogol - he demonstrates the same kind of healthy humor and rich imagination. At the same time he derives much of his literary merit from the absurdist writing of Daniil Kharms.
Having said that it should be emphasized that Selin possesses a voice all his own and the three great writers mentioned above are only a point of reference. Some of his stories resemble video-clips in form and are just as visual, sparkling with humor, aphoristic comparisons and wit. They are usually based on some fantastic plot involving fantastic metamorphoses happening to his characters and conveying Selin's wonder at life's inscrutable mysteries and inimitable beauty.
Selin grew up in the little town of Volzhsk on the Volga. He graduated from the Moscow Institute of Physics Engineering and worked as a physicist for eight years, leaving this profession with a number of publications and discoveries to his credit. During that time he wrote prose and plays, which he staged himself with theatre companies in Moscow and St Petersburg. He also writes film and TV scripts and humorous short stories, published in literary journals and recited by comic actors.
He has two collections of short stories and the novel Videountermenschento his name
"Selin is a modern-day E.T. A.Hoffmann..." — ExLibris
Alexander Selin belongs to that rare Chekhovian type of writer who tells a story not straightforwardly but through a series of carefully chosen and cleverly arranged vivid details. Perhaps Selin has even more in common with Gogol - he demonstrates the same kind of healthy humor and rich imagination. At the same time he derives much of his literary merit from the absurdist writing of Daniil Kharms.
Having said that it should be emphasized that Selin possesses a voice all his own and the three great writers mentioned above are only a point of reference. Some of his stories resemble video-clips in form and are just as visual, sparkling with humor, aphoristic comparisons and wit. They are usually based on some fantastic plot involving fantastic metamorphoses happening to his characters and conveying Selin's wonder at life's inscrutable mysteries and inimitable beauty.
Selin grew up in the little town of Volzhsk on the Volga. He graduated from the Moscow Institute of Physics Engineering and worked as a physicist for eight years, leaving this profession with a number of publications and discoveries to his credit. During that time he wrote prose and plays, which he staged himself with theatre companies in Moscow and St Petersburg. He also writes film and TV scripts and humorous short stories, published in literary journals and recited by comic actors.
He has two collections of short stories and the novel Videountermenschento his name