To an émigré in London, a figure often appearing in Zinovy Zinik’s fiction, the world he finds himself in is not what it appears to be. Unfaithful lovers and anti-Semitic bullies, European accents and summer drinks – nothing can be trusted, everything has a twist.
There is no clarity in his own head either. “I seemed to be thinking in English while continuing to speak Russian. But isn’t this an illusion, this separation of thought and word?” These ambiguities make the real state of things as difficult to decode as a cricket match. Yet it is this game that teaches the protagonist a lesson that applies far beyond the pitch. Guided by it, he can make as many runs as he wants without missing the ball.
Originally published in Russian as ‘Kriket’, 1990. Collected in One-Way Ticket, New Directions, 1995
A Personal Anthology 