60×90/32, hard cover, ill., 280 pp., 2004
ISBN 5-86793-303-2

A graduate of the Stroganov School of Applied Art, Vladimir Paperny undertook his post-graduate research at the Moscow Institute for the Theory and History of Architecture. His thesis on Stalinist architecture, Culture Two, has now appeared both in Russian (ARDIS, 1985, New Literary Review, 1996) and in English (Cambridge University Press, 2002). In 1981, Paperny moved to Los Angeles. Mos Angeles is a collection of stories, articles, memoirs and interviews written in America and centring around the foreigner’s view of local culture. The reader experiences Los Angeles as it appears to a Muscovite, at the same time viewing Moscow through the eyes of a visitor from LA. The author’s distinctive tone and ability to write humorously on serious matters and seriously about trifles pervade both the autobiographical and the (relatively speaking!) academic parts of this collection.

Mos Angeles is illustrated with photographs and collages by the author.

‘Mos Angeles is a collage featuring memories of the adventures and misadventures of a newly-arrived Russian émigré in the States, essays for popular magazines, academic articles, interviews and photos taken chiefly by the author. Paperny covers love and sex, cigarettes and alcohol, skinniness and obesity, old and new Moscow architecture, the crisis of ’98, Komar and Melamid, blacks in America, Mila Jovovich, Joseph Brodsky, Solomon Volkov and much, much more, putting together his colourful material with the flair of a professional designer. Mos Angeles can truly be said to continue the tradition of foreigners’ memoirs of Russia and Russian notes on the West. Reading this book is sheer pleasure: witty and perceptive observations, a sharp, yet affectionate approach, important, deep conclusions and a light, flowing style.’
Katya Vidre, Time Out St. Petersburg

World rights available