Gilbert Sorrentino (b. 1929) is one of the key figures of American literature of the 20th century: novelist, poet, essayist, publisher and editor, winner of many literary awards. Critics put him on a par with Richard Brautigan, Hubert Selby, W. C. Williams and James Laughlin. “Monster Rod” (1995) - “a novel of education”, a harsh and cynical saga about the formation of a man-monster during the Great Depression, dark a satire that can delight and horrify, an elegant and gripping book about a world in which no one is right: everyone is hopelessly guilty, everyone is a victim of their own hatred. Gallows humor. “Last bow” by Viktor Astafiev, turned inside out. For the first time in Russian.