Book Launch: “Happiness” by Yuri Felsen

On 10 March at Pushkin House, join the launch of Happiness by Yuri Felsen — a major modernist writer of the interwar Russian diaspora. The event will take place in person and online, with translator Bryan Karetnyk, writer and critic Matthew Janney, and Professor Maria Rubins.

Influenced by Proust, Joyce and Woolf, Happiness (1932) is a psychologically charged diary-novel set in the Russian émigré circles of interwar Paris. Addressed to the narrator’s beloved Lyolya, it traces desire, rivalry and self-deception as fragile emotional certainties unravel. Its exploration of jealousy, masculinity and the elusive nature of happiness feels strikingly contemporary.

Rediscovered only recently after Felsen’s murder at Auschwitz and the destruction of his archive, Happiness appears here in its first-ever translation. The discussion will explore the novel’s style, legacy and relevance today.

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