A captivating debut novel about studying abroad in St. Petersburg, Dostoevsky’s novels and the search for oneself.

Literary fiction

In the novel Jolka, the protagonist of the same name goes on a study trip to St. Petersburg to penetrate the mystery of Dostoevsky’s novels, to get to know the distinctive Russian soul and, last but not least, to escape from her own past. A graduate in Russian studies, Jana Guljuškina wrote an imaginative story set mostly between 2007 and 2008 in which narrative perspectives alternate vividly. The novel focuses mainly on the young woman’s encounter with a different culture – at first Jolka experiences misunderstanding in St. Petersburg as she does not know the language and the Russian students have a problem pronouncing her name. Over time, however, she begins to bond with both the frosty environment of St. Petersburg and some young Russians. At the same time, it turns out that more than the desire to discover a foreign country, she was driven to Russia by her bleak past, in which there are several broken relationships. This dense, somewhat melancholic novel is a mature work by a writer from whom both Czech and foreign readers can expect a lot from in the future.

Jana Guljuškina (1984) studied Russian language and literature at Charles University in Prague and Masaryk University in Brno. She specializes in contemporary Russian literature.