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Чемодан

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«Чемодан» — сборник рассказов Сергея Довлатова, выпущенный в 1986 году издательством «Эрмитаж» (Энн-Арбор). В России книга впервые вышла в издательстве «Московский рабочий» (1991). В 2013 году сборник был включён в список «100 книг», рекомендованный Министерством образования РФ школьникам для самостоятельного чтения.

160 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1986

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About the author

Sergei Dovlatov

180 books707 followers
Sergei Dovlatov (Russian: Сергей Довлатов) was born in Ufa, Bashkiria (U.S.S.R.), in 1941. He dropped out of the University of Leningrad after two years and was drafted into the army, serving as a guard in high-security prison camps. In 1965 he began to work as a journalist, first in Leningrad and then in Tallinn, Estonia. After a period of intense harassment by the authorities, he emigrated to the United States in 1978. He lived in New York until his death in 1990.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 688 reviews
Profile Image for Vit Babenco.
1,782 reviews5,778 followers
June 30, 2023
How do we remember our life? We have personal belongings and they are like milestones, and every personal thing is a memento. We look at them and we do recall…
Everyone who leaves is allowed three suitcases. That’s the quota. A special regulation of the ministry…
A week later I was packing. As it turned out, I needed just a single suitcase.
I almost wept with self-pity. After all, I was thirty-six years old. Had worked eighteen of them. I earned money, bought things with it. I owned a certain amount, it seemed to me. And still I only needed one suitcase – and of rather modest dimensions at that.

So Sergei Dovlatov is packing his suitcase and he starts remembering…
The worst thing for a drunkard is to wake up in a hospital bed. Before you’re fully awake, you mutter, ‘That’s it! I’m through! For ever! Not another drop ever again!’
And suddenly you find a thick gauze bandage around your head. You want to touch it, but your left arm is in a cast. And so on.

Then one day we pass away but our things remain. And our relatives and friends look at them and probably they also start remembering or probably they just throw them away.
Profile Image for Orsodimondo.
2,457 reviews2,430 followers
October 3, 2024
LONTANO DA DOVE



Dovlatov, almeno in questa raccolta di nove racconti, mi è venuto incontro sin dal principio con un piglio cui non sono abituato nei suoi compatrioti scrittori.
All’Ufficio per l’espatrio quella stronza viene a dirmi…
Una partenza che mi ha subito convinto: niente polvere, ma giochi di parole, umori attuali, irriverenza e umorismo beffardo. Dissenso sì, emigrazione pure, ma senza malinconia, senza piangersi addosso.
Emigrazione vissuta in modo radicalmente e consapevolmente diverso dai suoi colleghi scrittori espatriati.



Come dicevo, si tratta di solo nove racconti, tutti brevi, dal forte sapore autobiografico, probabilmente accentuato dalla scelta di un io narrante a condurre i giochi.
Tranne il primo, intitolato “Premessa”, che getta le basi della storia, e cioè il russo che parte per gli Stati Uniti con biglietto di solo andata, e vuole/deve portarsi dietro tutte le cose cui non può/vuole rinunciare, gli altri otto prendono il titolo da un oggetto (calzini finlandesi, scarpe del sindaco, un bel vestito a doppio petto, la cintura ufficiale, il giaccone di Fernand Léger, la camicia di popeline, il colbacco, i guanti da automobilista).
Oggetti che si presentano con tono umoristico, che sembrerebbero per lo più superflui, abbandonabilissimi, per nulla indispensabili.



Emigrato senza rimpianto per la ‘madre’ Russia, senza rabbia per i soprusi del potere sovietico, senza recriminazioni nei confronti né del suo paese né del regime. Tuttavia, in dissenso. Ma, dissidente con l’esistenza. Refrattario alle regole della vita. Alle regole in generale. Al punto che persino in occidente riesce a vivere contro le regole vigenti:
Mi sono convinto che l’America non è una filiale del paradiso terrestre. E questa è stata la mia principale scoperta in occidente.
Dovlatov per sua fortuna non ebbe mai esperienza di lager, ma da soldato fu invece guardia di una prigione militare nella Repubblica di Komi per ben tre anni.
Secondo Solženicyn il lager era l’inferno. Io penso invece che l’inferno siamo noi stessi.



Grazie alla censura il mio apprendistato si è protratto per diciassette anni. Ma i racconti che avrei voluto pubblicare in quegli anni mi paiono oggi del tutto fiacchi… È difficile dire perché avessi deciso di restare. Evidentemente non avevo ancora raggiunto la soglia fatale. Volevo ancora esaurire indeterminate possibilità. O forse, anelavo inconsciamente alla repressione. Capita a volte. Un intellettuale russo che non sia stato in galera non vale un centesimo.
E anche in America continuò a essere un non allineato: i suoi compatrioti lo guardavano strano. Se non altro perché era probabilmente l’unico russo di New York senza la macchina.



Chi partiva per espatriare poteva per legge portarsi dietro al massimo tre valigie. L’emigrante Dovlatov protesta: come può racchiudere la sua vita nello spazio di sole tre valigie?!
Ma poi scopre che tutta la sua vita fino a lì non richiede più di una sola valigia, e per giunta piccola:
Osservai la valigia vuota. Sul fondo Marx. In cima Brodskij. E tra loro la mia unica, inestimabile, irripetibile esistenza. Era tutto ciò che avevo messo insieme in trentasei anni, durante tutta la mia vita in Russia. Pensai: ma è tutto qui? E risposi: sì, è tutto qui.


La tomba di Sergej Dovlatov (1941 – 1990) al Mount Hebron Cemetery di New York.
Profile Image for Guille.
1,004 reviews3,272 followers
June 17, 2023

“¡Os habéis bebido Rusia, miserables!”
Según la famosa fórmula atribuida a Groucho Marx, la comedia es tragedia más tiempo o, reformulada, tragedia más distancia. Ambas se le pueden aplicar a Dovlatov. En "La maleta", escrita casi una década después de ser expulsado de la Unión de Periodistas Soviéticos y emigrar a Nueva York, Dovlatov retrata la vida en la URSS de su juventud como si de una comedia gamberra se tratara, aunque no siempre ese tiempo o esa distancia logran enmascarar el dolor que siente por su patria.
“—En dos palabras, ¿qué ocurre en la patria? Karamzin no necesitó ni siquiera dos palabras. —Roban —fue su respuesta... Conocí a un hombre delicado, noble, educado, que robó de su empresa un cubo de cemento recién preparado. Por el camino, el cemento fraguó, como era de esperar. El ladrón tuvo que tirar el pedrusco resultante no lejos de su casa. Otro de mis amigos rompió la cerradura de un centro electoral. Se llevó una urna. La escondió en su casa y se quedó tan ancho. El tercero de mis conocidos se llevó un extintor. El cuarto robó del despacho de su jefe un busto de Paul Robeson. El quinto, el soporte metálico para anuncios de la calle Shkapin. El sexto, un pupitre de un club de aficionados a la música…”
La forma que toma este retrato es la del relato. Cada uno de ellos está asociado a un objeto. Son objetos que llevaba en la maleta con la que abandonó el país: tres pares de calcetines finlandeses de color guisante, un par de botines robados al alcalde de Leningrado, un buen traje cruzado muy apropiado para los entierros, un cinturón militar de cuero muy útil como arma de defensa personal, una vieja chaqueta que perteneció a Fernand Léger, una triste camisa de popelín (con gran diferencia, mi relato preferido), un gorro de invierno producto de una pelea que sustituyó a otro gorro perdido en otra pelea y un par de guantes de chófer destinados a la conducción de un coche que nunca llegó a comprar, no le dio la gana. No es cierto eso que dicen de que todo lo importante de una vida cabe en una maleta, pero no cabe duda de que todo lo que se metería en esa maleta tendría una importancia capital. La tuvo para Dovlatov y en este libro nos explica por qué.
"La doctrina marxista-leninista encierra algo. Seguramente, dentro del hombre hay instintos sociales. Durante toda mi vida consciente sentí atracción por los decadentes: los pobres, los gamberros, los poetas novatos. En mil ocasiones hice amigos normales, pero nunca funcionó. Solo me sentía seguro en compañía de canallas, salvajes y esquizofrénicos".
Un sarcasmo melancólico tiñe todos los sucesos y situaciones absurdas que surgen con una gran naturalidad en la cotidianidad bajo una dictadura tan contradictoria y cruel como fue la URSS. Solo el humor y el alcohol, omnipresentes en estos relatos, le pueden hacer frente... quizás también la indiferencia.
“Durante esos años, nuestros amigos se enamoraron, se casaron y se divorciaron. Escribieron versos y novelas sobre el tema. Se mudaron de una república a otra. Cambiaron sus ocupaciones, convicciones, hábitos. Se hicieron disidentes y alcohólicos. Atentaron contra vidas ajenas o contra las suyas propias... Nuestros amigos renacieron y volvieron a morir en busca de la felicidad. ¿Y nosotros? A todas las tentaciones y horrores de la vida contraponíamos nuestro único don: la indiferencia.”
Un libro que se lee en dos tragos, divertido y triste a partes iguales, pero sin ese algo más que yo necesito para disfrutar de una lectura y que aquí solo encontré en uno de los relatos. No obstante, recomendable.
Profile Image for Jaguar Kitap.
48 reviews348 followers
March 19, 2022
Dovlatov'un en ünlü eseri Bavul, Eyüp Karakuş'un Rusça aslından çevirisiyle
Mart 2022'de Jaguar'da.
Profile Image for Argos.
1,260 reviews490 followers
July 21, 2023
Ülkesinde geçirdiği 36 yıl sonunda Rusya’dan ayrılıp Batı’ya iltica eden yazar, sadece bir bavulla sınırdan geçer. Kitapta her biri öykü niteliğindeki kısa anlatılarla bavulda bulunanlar üzerinden hayatını aktarıyor. Nedir bavulda bulunanlar, çorap, ayakkabı, takım elbise, subay palaskası, poplin gömlek, kışlık şapka gibi sıradan eşyalar. Herbirinin ayrı bir öyküsü vardır. Bazen mizah, ağırlıklı olarak da hiciv sanatını kullanarak gerçekçi ancak edebi olarak çok da göz kamaştırmayan bir anlatı ve kurgu ile sunuyor bizlere Sergey Dovlatov.

Yazar komunizmi “yüce ve sınırsız şarlatanlık” olarak (s.91) tanımlayacak kadar antikomunist ve rejim karşıtı. Yazdıkları Marsizm-Leninizm’in ve Sovyet Rusya yönetiminin sert bir eleştirisi. Buna itirazım yok, ancak bir samimiyetsizlik var bana göre, kolaycılığa hatta fırsatçılığa kaçmış gibi hissettim. Yani bir Bulgakov, bir Platanov, bir Svetlanka gibi ağırlıklı yazılmış muhalif roman ve öykülerden çok farklı, adeta havada kalıyor. Bu nedenle notum 3.5’a ulaşamadı.
Profile Image for Momčilo Žunić.
273 reviews113 followers
Read
November 12, 2025
Kada stvarnost nadilazi apsurd, treba nemilice udarati po piću. Nije to samo šeretsko-teorijsko opravdanje (Pijem jer je apsurdno!), već se time doseže optimalna radna temperatura - ono što bi se u rečniku zaljubljenika u alkohol moglo označiti kao potaman. Tako se podmazuje(mo) nivelacije radi, da stvarnost i apsurd ne varniče. Pijem da bih mogao!

Inače, stvarnost šije apsurd,
[Prenaduvavam? Zabavlja me da svakog 31. ili 1. u jeku petardacije (sic!) stvarnosti nad numeričkim prebacivanjem lovim po tv-u ko mi je od pokojnika poželeo Sretnu! I opet se tražio pokojnik više: Džej, Bora Drljača, Novica Zdravković,...] te mi bude drago što sam Novu čitalačku započeo grohotom, preturajući po "Koferu" ako se već nisam ispreturao s alkoholom. Utoliko, kada Dovlatov (ironično) kroz vajara kaže: "U svakom delu neophodna je minimalna doza apsurda.", on s time p(r)ovlači da je u svakom (svom) delu neophodna i minimalna doza stvarnosti* ili faličnosti, kako se već uzme kad alkohol ispari, a mozgu prigusti.

Reklo bi se i da se priče u "Koferčetu" ređaju s progresijom u pijanstvu. Gde je "Dovlatov" potaman, on pripoveda s finom uciranom nemarnošću** koja doseže onaj kazivalački ideal da je san svake pismenosti da bude usmenost. Kad je naćeflejisan, drskije odstupa od minimalne doze stvarnosti. I tada je pitka i zabavna usmena kretenčina, ali mu ipak više "verujem" trezvenijem.

 * Kao da poputbina iz kofera nije dovoljan signal. Negde dalje, doduše, stoji i omaž po lenjingradsko-poetičkoj srodnosti: Čukovski, Olejnikov, Zoščenko, Harms.

**U tom duhu sam i iščitavao Lomovo (de)centriranje teksta.

["Kofer", Sergej Dovlatov, prevela s ruskog Natalija Nenezić, LOM, Beograd, 2019]
Profile Image for Petar.
81 reviews34 followers
November 10, 2022
Knjiga jednostavnog manira i minimalističkog izraza u kojoj autor pruža sliku sovjetskog režima kroz uzbudljive dogodovštine čiji je i sam akter. Kofer je delo pisano sa stanovišta iseljenika, prožeto nostalgijom i zdravim humorom. Dovlatov na teške životne priče i apsurdni sled stvari u svojoj domovini gleda sa šaljive strane, ljudi su u svojoj gluposti, dopadljivi, a vlast je predmet diskretne poruge.

3+
Profile Image for Aleksandar Šegrt.
125 reviews38 followers
December 16, 2020
moglo bi se reći da je ovo idealna knjiga po mom minimalističkom shvatanju književnosti i sveta. kratko, duhovito, bez nepotrebnog naklapanja, pomalo sarkastično, kroz banalne situacije zavreba velika životna istina tek u reč-dve. petica za sergeja.
Profile Image for Sepehr.
208 reviews236 followers
September 6, 2022
شورویِ محبوس در چمدان:

سرگئی دولاتوف که به زعم بسیاری، یکی از مطرح‌ترین و بهترین نویسندگان شوروی بود، مثل بیشتر هنرمندان به غرب پناهنده شد. هنگام گریختن از کشورش تنها یک چمدان درب و داغان همراه دارد. تمام دارایی‌اش. چمدانی که با حسرت از آن با عنوان ماحصل چند دهه زندگی و کار در کشورش یاد می‌کند. وقتی به آمریکا می‌رسد چمدان را در کمدی می‌گذارد و فراموشش می‌کند. چند سالی بعدی پسرش طی اتفاقی در کمد متوجه چمدانی کهنه می‌شود و پدرش آن را بیرون می‌کشد. وقتی چمدان را باز می‌کند فقط چند شیٔ ظاهرا بی ارزش را می‌بیند. دستکش، جوراب و یا کمربندی قدیمی. ولی هرکدام از این اشیاء تداعی‌گر خاطره و ماجرایی است که نویسنده پشت سر گذاشته. بنابراین تصمیم می‌گیرد خاطرات پنهان در این اشیاء را برای ما روایت کند. این کتاب مجموعه داستانی اتوبیوگرافیک است. یک جفت جوراب سبز نخودی یادآور خاطره‌ای است و همین خاطرات در کنار هم یک تاریخچه‌ی کوچک از کلیت زیست در شوروی است. بیشتر این خاطرات، تصاویری از تلاش برای بقا همراه با دل‌مردگی و آسمان خاکستری و سوزِ دائمی را برای خوانندگانش می‌سازد.
بنظرم اگر می‌خواست داستان‌هایش به یاد بمانند باید حساسیت و سخت‌گیری بیشتری به خرج می‌داد. گاهی نویسندگان تجارب خود را هرز می‌کنند و موقعیت سیاسی‌-تاریخی مهمی را به سرگذشتی سرگرم کننده تقلیل می‌دهند. این هم یکی دیگر از میوه‌های توتالیتاریسم. اختگی و عدم خلاقیت. نویسندگانی که سال‌ها زیر یوغ استبداد و با تیغ سانسور قلم می‌زنند یا باید بمیرند یا کنار بیایند. آن‌هایی هم سعی می‌کنند کنار بیایند به مرور یک سانسورچی خود ساخته در مغز خود تعبیه می‌کنند. سانسورچی‌ای که حتی با ورورد به سرزمین‌های آزاد هم با لجاجت از مغز هنرمند آویزان است و به این راحتی‌ها گورش را گم نمی‌کند. هرچند از استثناها نمی‌شود غافل شد ولی متاسفانه گویا آقای دولاتوف جزو آن‌ها نیست.
و اما سخن آخر. در مقدمه کتاب عبارتی از دولاتوف نقل شده بود که در آن دولاتوف اذعان داشته بود که با وجود ارادتش به دیگر غول‌های ادبیات روس، دوست دارد مثل چخوف بنویسد. پاسخ من این است :« رفیق دولاتوف، چخوف یدونه‌س. بدو دنبال گردو بازیت».
701 reviews78 followers
October 31, 2020
Toda la miseria y la tristeza de la URSS caben en la maleta de Dovlátov cuando huye de allí con media docena de prendas. Para mí el humor posiblemente es lo más difícil de hacer en literatura. Si Dovlátov es el que mejor lo hace es que es muy grande.
Profile Image for Olaf Gütte.
222 reviews78 followers
January 20, 2020
Dowlatow beschreibt hier selbstironisch und mit typisch russischem Humor
seine Erinnerungen an seine Zeit in der damaligen Sowjetunion.
Wunderbar witzig in einer Art und Weise, wie wir sie heute in ähnlicher Form
bei Wladimir Kaminer lesen können.
Profile Image for AiK.
726 reviews269 followers
May 26, 2022
Главной эмоцией этого сборника автобиографических рассказов можно назвать плохо скрываемое недовольство. Недовольство зарплатой или стипендией, из-за которых надо фарцевать, а раз неудача настигла из-за поточного производства, ему пришлось носить финские носки горохового цвета много лет, недовольство службой в армии на охране лагерей - что ж это за служба? Недовольство неравенством, когда Андрюша все получал без труда, а ему зато досталась куртка самого великого Леже от его матери, посетившей друзей в Париже. Удивительно, что советские артисты дружили с великими французскими писателями, художниками и актерами. Он высмеивает "дружбу" когда человек при силе, и то, как все советские именитые друзья семьи исчезли из дома вдовы Народного артиста Черкасова. Недовольство проявляется во всем, и какое-то усталое равнодушие. Да, они с женой были равнодушны. Это тоже главная советская эмоция.
Profile Image for Peter.
45 reviews19 followers
February 3, 2015
What a great writer! Funny, melancholic and sharp. Paints a fascinating picture of Soviet St-Petersburg in (presumably) the early 60s. Runner-up to my favourite Russian writer Konstantin Paustovsky. I will have to read all of Dovlatov's translated material.


Profile Image for Caro the Helmet Lady.
833 reviews462 followers
November 15, 2020
Very good. Everything depicted in this little book would be even funnier, be it a complete fiction. But it's hard to laugh too hard when you think about the whole absurdity of mundane life in USSR when you analyze it years after it's gone.
Profile Image for Narjes Dorzade.
284 reviews297 followers
December 10, 2019
به چمدان که حالا خالی بود، نگاه کردم. ته آن تصویر کارل مارکس بود. داخل درش تصویر برودسکی بود. و بین این دو، زندگی ارزشمند، یگانه و از دست رفته من بود.

اولین تکه از پازل زندگی جوزف برودسکی را پیدا کرده‌ام،سرگئی سرگردان دوست صمیمی او که به جهت آزادی در نوشتن ناخواسته خود را به کشوری دیگر تبعید کرد.
Profile Image for Mahtab Safdari.
Author 53 books38 followers
August 27, 2021
Dovlatov's sense of humor is fascinating and unique. He never tries to be funny, he simply describes the comic situations in a rather serious tone, calmly and matter-of-factly, and this clever way of narrating makes the events even more hilarious. The way he jokes about anything -even about people and things which could be sacred to many- shows his great courage and confidence, to the point of indifference, these things can only come along with extraordinary talent and intelligence.
The Suitcase is a fabulous story, full of outstanding moments, apparently trivial things become of great significance. The history, culture, family, bonds and discoveries along the way come to light.
You will certainly laugh a lot while reading this amazing narrative but that's not all, it will also make you think about many unforgotten things, your old memories, and your old-self and who you have become during the decades.
Profile Image for Lazare.
53 reviews2 followers
November 24, 2016
მე რომ ჩემოდანი დამეწერა და ჩემოდანში მოთავსებულ ნივთებზე მომეყოლა, გამოქვეყნებიდან 1-2 საათში ან დამიჭერდნენ ან მეგობრების არმია (პლუს უცხოები) თავ-ყბას გამიერთიანებდნენ ჩემი კლეპტომანიის გადამკიდე.
Profile Image for A. Raca.
768 reviews171 followers
April 19, 2022
"İnsanların çoğunluğu, çözümü kendilerini pek ilgilendirmeyen sorunların çözümsüz olduğunu varsayarlar."
Profile Image for Taylor.
329 reviews238 followers
June 19, 2015
A collection of stories connected by items in a suitcase - things our narrator brought with him upon emigrating from the USSR. Who the "he" is, exactly, is a bit curious. While billed as a novel, our narrator seems to be Dovlatov himself, though when contrasted with what is known of his life, it doesn't hold up as firm autobiography, nor as complete fiction -- hovering in that all-too familiar place of half-truth.

It becomes clear each item in the suitcase has outgrown its usefulness, the suitcase having been long buried in a closet and rediscovered only when a child pulls it out. The things are shuffled through and kept, not because they're needed - and it forces one to consider what items truly are, for that matter - but because of the memories they trigger, or the great personal cost it took to acquire them.

The stories shift from being darkly comic to simply dark as time goes on, and while the narrative isn't strictly chronological, it does move vaguely from youth to jobs, marriage, children, emigration. If you're looking for political commentary, it only holds so much - Dovlatov, or at least the Dovlatov of the book, openly admits that he's not the type to make a fuss and tends to accept things in a matter-of-fact way. He's happy to point out flaws in the system, and even to maneuver around them, but isn't the slashing tires, starting fires sort of guy.

The only fault was simply that I wanted more, but from what I've seen, Dovlatov seems to be a devotee of shorter works, which our 200-page-limit book club that I read this for has truly given me an appreciation for. Considering how many of the big Russians of literature are long-winded, I can appreciate someone who goes down as easy as vodka*.




*for the characters in The Suitcase, that is. For me, it'd be whiskey. I left my taste for vodka back in college. Though I admit this made me briefly reconsider.
Profile Image for Pedro.
825 reviews331 followers
July 19, 2022
El personaje, llamado Sergei Dovlatov, está por irse de su país, con un tope de tres maletas.
Y nos va narrando sus historias, con su actitud burlona, vividas como un si fueran parte de un juego menor, como si no estuviera del todo presente en medio de las rigideces, locuras y extrañezas de la vida soviética.
Y todo lo que ha vivido y construido en su vida, lo poco que constituye ese todo, cabe en un libro, en una maleta.
Un muy buen libro, ameno y amable, pero de ninguna manera banal, que destaca sobre un fondo gris y un aparente sinsentido.
Profile Image for Hulyacln.
987 reviews563 followers
April 21, 2022
‘İnsanın üzerindeki zenginlik ve huzur kabuğunun bir an soyulduğunu düşünün! O yaralı ve öksüz ruhu o an kirlenmeye, çirkefleşmeye başlayacaktır.’
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Şu an kalkıp gitsem, uzaklaşsam neler alırdım yanıma? Doğduğumdan beri topraklarında soluk alıp verdiğim ülkemi arkamda bıraksam, dili dilime yabancı bir ülkeye yerleşsem, neleri götürürdüm kendimle? Kitaplarım? Birkaç hatırası olan eşya? Ne kadar yer kaplardı bunlar? Dovlatov gibi bir bavula sığdırabilir miydim onca yılı, dostluğu, sohbeti, kelimeleri?
Belki (belli ki demeli) hayır.
Bunun için çok geniş bir bavula ihtiyaç var, taşımaktan yorulmayacağın-sürekli seninle gelebilecek bir bavula: Hafızaya.
Dovlatov gidiyor, hafızasını da beraberinde götürüyor. Orası çok olaylı, kısmen keder yüklü. Ama hayatın tüm karmaşasına rağmen gülünçlüğü de sabit.
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Sergey Dovlatov ‘biriktirebildiklerini’ anlatıyor. Sırasız, hesapsız kitapsız. Sayısız kez yuvarlağı kadehleri de çocukluk anılarını da döküyor ortaya. Dilini, hareketli ve ironi yüklü anlatımını öyle sevdim ki!! Tek kötü yanı çabucak bitmesiydi..
Tavsiyemdir!
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Eyüp Karakuş çevirisi, Natalia Suvorova kapak tasarımıyla 🌿
Profile Image for HAMiD.
518 reviews
June 23, 2018
یک طنز سرخوش اما تلخی تو داستان ها هست که جدن من رو خندوند و البته که همراهش مدام یادآوری اینکه وضع ما هم چنین شکلی داشته و داره هنوز
احوالی داشتم با این کتاب. خوب
طنز کتاب هم استواره بر رفتارهای خردگریزانه ی حکومت خودکامه، حکومت هایی که از یک روش در نادانی و البته زورگویی استفاده می کنن
کتاب خوبی ست و البته خوشخوان
ترجمه ش هم قابل قبول
1397/04/01
Profile Image for muthuvel.
256 reviews144 followers
October 29, 2020
You live your life as you like it, or mostly by things turn out for you whether you like it or not. Somehow it goes. And then one day you wake up and realise ten or twenty years have got behind you. How would you remember and enumerate all the memorable things happened?

(Un)fortunately, not all of us gets the luxury to have souvenirs for every memorable parts of our lives. Sergei Dovlatov, in this short semi-autobiographical novel or short stories if you want to call them, tells the fragments of his life and times he had in the Soviet regime using the things in the suitcase he emigrated the country with.

Everyone leaving the republic was allowed 3 suitcases as quota norm. Yet he needed just a single suitcase.

"After all, I was thirty-six years old. Had worked eighteen of them. I earned money, bought things with it. I owned a certain amount, it seemed to me. And still I only needed one suitcase – and of rather modest dimensions at that.

"That was all I had acquired in thirty-six years. In my entire life in my homeland. I thought, 'Could this be it?' And I replied, 'Yes, this is it.”


With the things he left out of USSR, the stories that he tells are either full of witty satire or of moving poignance, or both at times. Could make one to laugh out loud at times and have nostalgia for the things that never happened to one especially if the reader doesn't have ties to the shadow of USSR.

Dovlatov's satire, cynical attitude, honesty, self-deprecating pathetic humor makes it all more enjoyable. Definitely reading more of him in the future.
Profile Image for Paul Sánchez Keighley.
152 reviews135 followers
January 15, 2023
Years after emigrating from the Soviet Union to the United States, Dovlatov rediscovers the sole suitcase he took with him and which he had never opened. Inside it are a handful of items. This book is that suitcase. Each chapter is the story behind how each item came into his posession. This gives us a sweeping view of Dovlatov's life in particular and of life in the Soviet Union in general.

Reading this I felt more interest for Dovlatov as a person than for the book as a work. He is a fascinating character and a compelling narrator: he is an alcoholic louse, a jaded pushover, a tormented artist and a cynical nihilist with a clear eye for the absurd. He has an amusing tendency to talk shit about well-known artists for absolutely no reason. This can either come across as a needle-sharp ability to cut through other people's bullshit or just plain childishness. At times he felt like a Russian Hemingway channeling the spirit of Bukowski. I was constantly in awe at just how much pointless stealing and drinking goes on in these stories.

I'd like to read more by this man. I feel he has it in him to write something great. To me, despite its charm, this wasn't it.
Profile Image for Daisy .
1,177 reviews51 followers
November 4, 2012
I hope to one day be able to read everything Dovlatov has written. There is such biting humor in his reality.

All ruined peoples are twins...

We greeted each other. She asked, "They say you've become a writer?"
I was bewildered. I wasn't prepared for the question to be put that way. Had she asked, "Are you a genius?" I would have answered calmly and affirmatively. All my friends bore the burden of genius. They called themselves geniuses. But calling yourself a writer was much harder.
I said, "I write to amuse myself..."
Profile Image for Olga.
446 reviews155 followers
December 17, 2021
Behind the simplicity and brevity of the dialogue there is an observant, witty and philosophically minded story-teller. A free spirit who cannot breathe in the suffocating, absurd and tragicomic Soviet reality.
Profile Image for Steven R. Kraaijeveld.
559 reviews1,926 followers
September 18, 2022
"You can divide the world into two kinds of people: those who ask, and those who answer. Those who pose questions, and those who frown in irritation in response." (9)
After his writings were banned by the authorities and he found himself persecuted, Sergei Dovlatov (1941-1990) emigrated from the USSR to the United States. In The Suitcase, Dovlatov is prompted to reflect on his life in the USSR—his former home and homeland—when he is confronted, years later, with the battered suitcase (only one!) that he took with him when he left. Rediscovering the dusty and battered suitcase in a wardrobe, he proceeds to recount the story of how he acquired each of the eight items that it has held all this time. Funny and poignant, absurd in light of the iron logic of life in Soviet times—but also deeply human—The Suitcase definitely made an impression. It was my first encounter with Dovlatov, and certainly won't be the last. I have Pushkin Hills lined up next.
"So what had I acquired in all those years in my homeland? What had I earned? This pile of rubbish? A suitcase of memories?...
I've been living in America for ten years. I have jeans, sneakers, moccasins, camouflage T-shirts from the Banana Republic. Enough clothing.
But the voyage isn't over. And at the end of my allotted time I will appear at another gate. And I will hear: 'What have you brought with you?'
'Here,' I'll say. 'Take a look.'
And I'll also say, 'There's a reason that every book, even one that isn't very serious, is shaped like a suitcase.'"
(129)

Profile Image for Eylül Görmüş.
756 reviews4,676 followers
December 15, 2022
Rus yazar Sergei Dovlatov'la ikinci hasbihalim "Bavul" ile oldu; bundan önce kendisinin Puşkin Tepeleri kitabını okumuştum. Kitaptaki hikaye şu: vatandaşlar, yasa gereği, Sovyetler Birliği'ni terk ederken yanlarına yalnızca 3 bavul eşya alabiliyorlar ve arkalarında kocaman bir hayat bırakmak zorunda kalarak ayrılıyorlar. Dovlatov da yine daha önceki kitabı gibi otobiyografik unsurlar taşıyan bu küçük romanında o bavullardan birini seneler sonra açıp içinde bulduğu nesnelerin öykülerini anlatmaya koyuluyor ve bu nesneler üzerinden hem kendi hayatını anlatıyor, hem de bize bir SSCB panoraması çiziyor.

Puşkin Tepeleri'ndeki gibi, yine kronik bir SSCB sorunu olan bireyle devletin tuhaf ilişkisi meselesinin izlerini görmek mümkün burada da. Dovlatov bu meseleye oldukça takık diyebiliriz, zaten kendisi komünist rejimle epeyce çatışmış bir yazar biliyoruz ki. Bu devlet-birey ilişkisi konusundaki eleştirilerinde haksız değil bence; toplumsal hayatın her köşesini biçimlendirmeyi amaçlayan bir siyasi düzende yaşayınca, her tür ilişkiye devletin elinin izi sinmiş oluyor: Kitapta anlatılan tüm hikayelerde, en bireysel gözükeninde bile bunu görmek mümkün.

1960lar Rusya'sına dair bence çok ilgi çekici bir resim çizen bir kitap bu. Bir de yer yer çok komik - Dovlatov hiç beklenmedik anlarda sistemin içine gömülü absürtlüğü bulup çıkarıp okuru güldürmeyi başarıyor, bu tarafını çok seviyorum.

Sonuçta güzel, lezzetli bir küçük okuma idi Bavul. Dovlatov'la ilişkimi derinleştirmeye devam edeceğim.
Profile Image for мohsen mzr.
79 reviews20 followers
September 16, 2021
سرگئی دولاتوف (نویسنده‌ی روسِ کتاب)، تحتِ فشارِ حکومت شوروی، بالاخره یه روزی خسته میشه و به غرب مهاجرت میکنه.
و به گفته‌ی خودش "تمام حاصلِ زندگیش از چند دهه زیستن در شوروی" رو توی یه چمدون کهنه میریزه و با خودش می‌بره؛ یه کفش چرم، یه کت قدیمی، یه جفت جوراب فنلاندی و... . و این کتاب مجموعه یادداشت‌های دولاتوف هست در موردِ اینکه محتویاتِ این چمدون از کجا وارد زندگیش شدن.

کتاب "چمدان" همین چیزیه که بالا گفتم، نقلِ خاطراتِ دولاتوف از حاصلِ زندگیش در شوروی.

به شخصه قبلاً دولاتوف رو نمی‌شناختم، ولی از همون اوایلِ کتاب متوجه شدم که یه آدمِ به‌شدت باهوشه. من از خوندنِ یادداشت و ماجراهای زندگیِ آدمای باهوش لذت می‌برم، به خصوص وقتی چنین قلم خیلی خوبی داشته باشه.
دولاتوف توی کتابی که بوی سیاست میده، بیشتر از سیاست، از زندگی حرف زده. و خیلی زیرکانه چیزهایی که می‌خواسته رو به تصویر کشیده.
من که از خوندن چند تا خاطره از زندگیِ دولاتوف لذت بردم. کتابِ خوش‌خوان و دوست‌داشتنی بود، با یه طنز سیاهِ زیبا.

و ضمناً ترجمه خیلی عالی و خوب بود.
Profile Image for Vanja Šušnjar Čanković.
371 reviews139 followers
September 15, 2019
Odličan je Dovlatov, zanimljiv, duhovit, inteligentan. Malo sam ga razvukla jer sam u posljednje vrijeme više raspoložena za serije. Prve tri-četiri priče su baš zabavne, poslije sam, kao što rekoh, napravila malu pauzu, pa je i moja energija opala. Ona kako krade cipele gradonačelniku je sjajna, stomak me je zabolio od smijeha. Zbirka za rasterećenje. Uživajte!
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