Redemption - Softcover

Ali, Tariq

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0330320041 ISBN 13: 9780330320047

Publisher: Pan Macmillan, 1991

Synopsis

A political satire of the far left. The novel opens on Christmas Eve, 1989. In Paris, Ezra Einstein, the polymathic genius of world Trotskyism, sees Ceausescu and his wife executed on television. The author also wrote "Streetfighting Years", "Can Pakistan Survive?" and "Moscow Gold".

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

A satirical and surrealistic novel from Britain about the end of history, by a noted former Sixties activist and associate of Danny the Red, that promises a radical if tongue-in-cheek solution for disillusioned revolutionaries. On the eve of the last decade of the 20th century, with Eastern Europe on the brink of freedom, and reformers in the ascendancy in the Soviet Union, a veteran leader of the international Trotsky movement, Ezra Einstein, has a moment of epiphany. He finds himself typing an invitation to all Trotskyites to attend a congress in the New Year in Paris, where he will reveal his ideas for saving the movement despite the great changes taking place. Ezra, who ``combined some of the qualities of an Old Testament prophet with the defects of a New Testament apostle, whose task was to interpret the words of the saviors in changing conditions,'' is also married to the much younger and stunningly beautiful Maya. Maya is pregnant, and many in the movement feel she is vitiating Ezra's commitment. Groups such as the Hoodlums, whose dead leader directs his successor from his coffin; the Burrowers from Britain, headed by Jed who is infatuated with a Thatcher minister; and the American PISPAW, controlled by Jim Noble, who has erotic dreams of Castro--all agree to attend but also plot to expel Ezra. Ezra, however--who mid-congress not only becomes a father but is able to suckle his precocious daughter--outwits them all with his brilliant if unorthodox solution for their political future- -they will infiltrate the world's major religions and ``fight to establish a connection between Heaven and Earth.'' Lots of insider politics, satire, and surrealistic goings-on from a writer with impeccable revolutionary credentials and considerable affection--if not for the ideas, at least for some of the players. Good fun for political groupies. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly

Distinguished radical historian Ali ( Revolution from Above ) takes as the subject of his first novel the impact on the left of recent events in Eastern Europe. His lighthearted approach to a world congress of Trotskyists, convened to reassess their theories in the wake of the changes sweeping through the Communist bloc in the winter of 1989-1990, is both unexpected and welcome. Calling the congress is Ezra Einstein, grand old man of the movement, an activist of reason and discernment surrounded by faction fighters so bizarre as to seem nearly insane. Ali paints convincing portraits of some of the nuttier participants, including opera star Laura Shaw, traveling with the embalmed corpse of her political guru; the compulsively conspiratorial Frenchman known only as the Cuckoo; and an American sect leader with a thinly disguised God complex. For many readers, the intricate machinations at the Congress will seem baffling (although no more so than the real-life divisions they satirize), but for anyone who has ever been even remotely involved with the radical left this will be a hilarious trip down memory lane. The broad comedy turns surprisingly and movingly sentimental in the final pages, as one generation of leftists dies away and new one is, quite literally, born.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0330320041
• ISBN 13: 9780330320047
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288