But he can't. It's all gone, that youthful instinct. This is America, where the morning paper lands on the doorstep at precisely 7:30 A.M.--not the woolly dominion Vladimir once ruled.

So he'll open his eyes and unlock the door. He'll put in his ten-hour workday. He'll chat up the secretarial pool and use his spare minutes to ascertain the standing of the local sports teams in the back pages of the Plain Dealer, statistics necessary for the firm's bizarre afterwork buddy rituals. (Vladimir is, as has been mentioned, partnership-track material.) And then, finally, the day will be replayed backward and he will return to Morgan . . . to the tiny trickle of breath issuing from her mouth, to the ears flush with warmth as if burning coals are concealed within, to her pregnant body embracing him in the night with the concern of a pending mother.

And what of this child?

Will he live the way his father once did: foolishly, imperially, ecstatically? . . .

No, thinks Vladimir. For he can see the child now. A boy. Growing up adrift in a private world of electronic goblins and quiet sexual urges. Properly insulated from the elements by stucco and storm windows. Serious and a bit dull, but beset by no illness, free of the fear and madness of Vladimir's Eastern lands. In cahoots with his mother. A partial stranger to his father.

An American in America. That's Vladimir Girshkin's son.

To Chang-rae Lee, with warmth and appreciation, for launching me into the world of letters. To Diane Vreuls, for the earliest encouragement. To John Saffron, of Haimosaurus University, for endless patience and for cracking the whip. To Denise Shannon of ICM, for superior representation and advice. To Cindy Spiegel, for invaluable editorial guidance and a keen understanding of the immigrant's experience. To Millys Lee, for everything.

GARY SHTEYNGART was born in Leningrad in 1972, and came to the United States seven years later. His novel, The Russian Debutante's Handbook, won the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction, was named a New York Times Notable Book, and was chosen as a best book of the year by the Washington Post Book World and Entertainment Weekly. His work has appeared in the New Yorker, Granta and many other publications. He lives in New York City.

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