It's Me, Eddie: A Fictional Memoir

Limonov grew up in Khar'gkov and was a member of an unofficial group of artists and writers. In 1975, he emigrated to the United States, where he lived for a few years before moving to France. His early experiences in this country provided the material for "It's Me, Eddie" (1979), which, despite the talented writing, caused an uproar because of the narrator's self-pitying, punklike persona, hatred of American society, and sexual frankness (rare in Russian literature). Two subsequent quasi-autobiographical works followed, covering the protagonist's youth and later experiences in New York. Recently, Limonov, whose art exemplifies what was once despised by the Soviet cultural establishment, is now scandalizing liberals by his espousal of extreme nationalist, right-wing positions and his association with anti-American, quasi-Fascist figures.