Penkov navigates the grandson’s growing dissatisfaction for the United States with effortless humor that turns into a tender pathos as the protagonist grows closer to his cooky yet endearing grandfather. Take “Buying Lenin” - the story that won the 2007 Eudora Welty Prize and introduced Penkov as an exciting new talent - a Bulgarian émigré is studying in the United States, despite the staunch objections from his communist grandfather back home who quotes Lenin ad nauseum. These tales deal with the American experience almost as much as they deal with the Bulgarian. Though it carries the subtitle A Country in Stories, Penkov does not strictly write “Bulgarian” literature. “While we’re on the subject of Eastern Europe,” you begin, “have you read anything from Bulgaria?” You’ll probably get a “no,” followed by the subsequent task of informing the partygoer about the extraordinarily diverse and endlessly entertaining short stories contained in Miroslav Penkov’s debut collection, East of the West. Come to think of it, you haven’t read any Russian literature! What do you do when the conversation turns to you?

“He’s the greatest of the Russians.” You agree, despite never having read Dostoevsky (okay, you did read the first hundred or so pages of Crime and Punishment, but that doesn’t count). The journey from casual reader to full-blown literary nerd is fraught with the particular peril I will call “countries unread.” You’re at a party, the drinks are flowing and the conversation turns to books.

East of the west by miroslav penkov