The Tool & the Butterflies

By Dmitry LipskerovTranslated by Reilly Costigan-Humes and Isaac Wheeler In this satirical, phantasmagorical novel by a star of contemporary Russian literature, Lipskerov writes about an aging man trying to find his place in modern society despite significant damage to his ego… and his “tool.” Publication Date: January 12, 2021 Paperback: 9781646050390eBook: 9781646050406   Description Dmitry Lipskerov, an award-winning Russian writer compared throughout his career to Mikhail Bulgakov and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, focuses his unbridled imagination on the story of wealthy, satisfied Mr. Iratov, whose virile world is flipped upside-down. Taking a page from Gogol’s satirical story “The Nose,” wherein the protagonist loses his aforementioned facial feature, Lipskerov's novel transposes such a loss onto a more delicate organ. The protagonist awakens one morning bereft of his tool; and the tool, which re-appears, sentient and in a small village far away, without his man. Thus begins a novel