The Buddha's Return - Paperback

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by Gaito Gazdanov (Author), Bryan Karetnyk (Translator)

A noir mystery by the acclaimed modernist Russian master, set in the Paris underworld.

"An excellent novel by any standard, ...especially remarkable for joining the philosophical underpinnings of the Russians with the intrigue of a French thriller." --Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

A millionaire is killed. A golden statuette of a Buddha goes missing. A penniless student, who is afflicted by dream-like fits, is arrested and accused of murder. Slipping between the menacing dream world of the student's fevered imagination, and the dark back alleys of the Paris underworld, The Buddha's Return is part detective novel, part philosophical thriller, and part love story.

Beset by constant hallucinations, a student and member of the Russian émigré community which filled Paris in the 1920s and 30s wanders the nighttime city. His offer of kindness to a vagrant in the Luxemburg Gardens spirals into unintended consequences, converging with the influence of a Russian millionaire and his mistress and hangers-on.

As the student drifts between dreams and reality, we find ourselves wondering about his guilt and about the influence of fate on all this--as well as where his true love Catherine has got to. But when the Buddha is returned, all becomes clear in this modernist meditation on fate, authority and connection.

In typically crisp, unfussy prose, Gazdanov's delicately balanced novel is a vivid evocation of the unforgettable atmosphere of interwar Paris--and an irresistibly hypnotic masterpiece from one of Russia's most talented émigré writers.

Author Biography

Gaito Gazdanov (1903-1971) joined the White Army aged just sixteen and fought in the Russian Civil War. Exiled in Paris from the 1920s onwards, he earned a living driving taxis at night. He quickly gained prominence on the literary scene as a novelist, essayist, critic and short-story writer, and was greatly admired by Maxim Gorky, among others. The Flight and The Spectre of Alexander Wolf are also published by Pushkin Press.

Bryan Karetnyk is a British writer and translator. His translations for Pushkin Press include works by Irina Odoevtseva, Jun'ichiro Tanizaki and Ryunosuke Akutagawa. He is also the editor of the Penguin Classics anthology Russian Émigré Short Stories from Bunin to Yanovsky.

Number of Pages: 224

Dimensions: 0.8 x 7.7 x 5.1 IN

Publication Date: October 27, 2026