Psalm a novel/reflection on the four plagues of the Lord Friedrich Gorenstein ; translated by Andrew Bromfield

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gorenshteĭn, Fridrikh, 1932-2002, author.

Contributor:

Bromfield, Andrew, translator.

Grinberg, Marat, 1977- writer of afterword.

Standardized Title:

Psalm. English

Language:

English

Russian

Subjects (All):

Jews--Ukraine--Fiction.

Jews.

Ukraine.

Genre:

Fiction

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Newton, MA Cherry Orchard Books 2026

Summary:

"Friedrich Gorenstein (1932–2002) stands as one of the most original and uncompromising voices in twentieth‑century 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 Bromfield’s masterful translation of Psalm—his second major and most controversial novel. With an illuminating afterword by Marat Grinberg, one of the leading scholars of Gorenstein’s 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 Russia—from the Holodomor to World War II, the Holocaust, and the postwar antisemitic campaigns—the novel follows Dan, a Jew from the tribe of Dan and the executor of God’s 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 Gorenstein’s Russian‑Jewish imagination. It is a landmark work from the now bygone Soviet Jewish civilization—one that will challenge, inspire, and stay with its readers long after the final page"-- De Gruyter Brill

Contents:

A parable of a lost brother

A parable of the torments of evildoers

A parable of fornication

A parable of pestilence of the spirit

A parable of a broken chalice

Afterword. The Soviet Jewish Haftarah : Friedrich Gorenstein’s Psalm / Marat Grinberg

Notes:

Online resource; title from PDF title page (De Gruyter Brill, viewed August 31, 2026)

Other Format:

Print version Gorenshteĭn, Fridrikh, 1932-2002 Psalm

ISBN:

9798887198866

9798887198873

OCLC:

1592907807

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license