The Kukotsky Enigma (The Kukotsky Case)

English edition (2016)
Author	Lyudmila Ulitskaya
Original title	Казус Кукоцкого
Translator	Diane Nemec Ignashev
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Novel
Published	2001
Publisher	Northwestern University Press (English)
Published in English	August 2016
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	392 pp
ISBN	9780810133488

The Kukotsky Enigma (Russian: Казус Кукоцкого) is a novel by acclaimed^[1] Russian novelist and public intellectual Lyudmila Ulitskaya. The Kukotsky Enigma won the 2001 Russian Booker Prize.^[2] With five, Ulitskaya holds the record for the most nominations for that prestigious award. In 2005, a television series based on the novel by director Yuri Grymov was aired in Russia. Critics suggest that the book's focus on abortion (from 1936 to 1955 it was allowed in USSR only for medical reasons) offers a new reading of Stalinism through the lens of family life and the female body.^[3]

Plot summary

The novel follows the life of the family of gynecologist Pavel Alekseevich Kukotsky. The story follows him from Stalin’s 1936 ban on abortions through the mid-1960s.

The novel consists of four parts. The first describes the life of the Kukotsky family members before the 1960s: his wife Yelena, their adopted daughter Tanya, a classmate Toma, and a former nun working as a housekeeper in Yelena’s home. The second part is a dream Yelena experiences while hovering between life and death. The third part covers the life of the family after 1960 and up to Tanya's death. The fourth part forms a brief epilogue.

Editions

• 2001, Russian Federation, Izdatelstvo Ast, Pub date 2001
• The Kukotsky Enigma translated by Diane Nemec Ignashev. Northwestern University Press, 15 August 2016; ISBN 978-0-8101-3348-8