Pu-239 and Other Russian Fantasies

Copyright

Interior design by Donna Burch

Typeset in Legacy Serif by BookMobile Design and Publishing Services

Printed on acid-free 30% post consumer waste paper by Versa Press.

The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

“Pu-239” first appeared in Harper’s Magazine

“Budyonnovsk” first appeared in News from the Republic of Letters

“Salt” first appeared in Bomb

© 1999, Text by Ken Kalfus

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher: Milkweed Editions, 1011 Washington Avenue South, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55415. (800) 520-6455. www.milkweed.org

Published 2011 by Milkweed Editions

The extract on p. 236 is from Vladimir Nabokov’s translation of “Silentium,” by Fyodor Tyutchev, in Three Russian Poets: Selections from Pushkin, Lermontov and Tyutchev (New Directions, 1944). Copyright © 1944 by Vladimir Nabokov.

Please turn to the back of this book for a list of the sustaining funders of Milkweed Editions.

eISBN : 978-1-571-31822-0

1. Russia—Social life and customs—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3561.A416524P8 1999

813’.54—dc21 99-18183

CIP

This book is printed on acid-free paper.