Synopsis
Drawing on long-hidden KGB files, a distinguished Russian poet and essayist reveals what happened to some of Soviet Russia's most prominent writers--including Isaac Babel and Maxim Gorky--after their arrests by the KGB. 15,000 first printing.
Reviews
In the late 1980s, as perestroika and glasnost bloomed in the Soviet Union, poet and essayist Shentalinsky, neither a dissident nor a state lackey, saw an opening: he organized fellow writers to appeal to the authorities to open files regarding state repression of writers during the Stalinist era. His lively, ironic book?an episodic, not a comprehensive, report?offers insight into the depredations and corruption of the Soviet regime. The files reveal the Orwellian interrogation of Isaac Babel and the satirist Mikhail Bulgakov's sardonically bold appeal to be allowed to leave the country. Shentalinsky's research uncovers the mysterious fates of writers like the multitalented Pavel Florensky, the "Russian Leonardo da Vinci," whose grandson had been told a dozen versions of Florensky's death. The KGB files, the author reports, both contradict and concur with the published memoirs recalling the great poet Osip Mandelstam; similarly, the files on Maxim Gorky, not a victim but a regime favorite, suggest that, for example, the writer and Lenin were not the great friends claimed by official legend.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
This literary, Soviet twist to the recovered memory movement so prevalent in the US reveals the horrors and tragedy of forced ``amnesia'' on a national scale. There is no doubt that poet Shentalinsky has undertaken a meaningful and monumental task in heading the commission to recover previously secret documentation pertaining to writers interrogated, imprisoned, and murdered by the KGB. Sadly, what might have been a rewarding collection of documents or an exciting narrative history is instead a confusing and ill-conceived combination of the two-- but still one that, by sheer strength of the subject at hand, makes a lasting impression on the persistent reader. Shentalinsky's journalistic narrative moves freely but clumsily between personal narrative (the author's attempts to start up the commission, his accounts of working with intriguing KGB archive personnel, visits to Gulag sites) and chapters focusing on individual writers. These range from the world-famous--Isaac Babel, Maxim Gorky, Mikhail Bulgakov, and Osip Mandelstam--to the lesser-known ``Russian Leonardo da Vinci,'' Pavel Florenksy. The author provides extensive biographical notes akin to the notoriously lengthy lists of characters that accompany Russian novels. The import and nature of the recovered documents themselves vary tremendously. They include diaries, letters, and interrogators' reports. Isaac Babel's file is compelling because it is unusually comprehensive and reveals how Babel first succumbed to his interrogators' demands and later attempted to save those whom he had implicated. One of the most memorable files is that of Nina Hagen-Torn, an ethnographer and poet whose writings bear eloquent testimony to the horrors of the Gulag. In the words of one who suffered with her, Hagen-Torn ``seemed to soar above all the horror of the camps.'' Though not all attained such nobility of spirit, some did, while others at least tried to protect friends and acquaintances. Powerful and gripping material that could have benefited significantly by gearing this English translation to a non-Russian audience. (8 pages b&w photos) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Shentalinsky, an established Russian author, led a commission to investigate the fate of writers arrested during the Stalinist era of terror. In this work, he documents the process to gain access to these files during glasnost. Individual chapters describe the life and work of a selection of these leading figures in Soviet and world literature, including Isaac Babel, Mikhail Bulgakov, Osip Mandelstam, and Maxim Gorky. For each writer, Shentalinsky reveals the contents of police files, recording how and why the person was arrested and what happened to them in detention. Manuscripts found in their files or associated with their case are discussed within this context. For the author, the treatment by the Soviet system of these literary figures reveals its failure to produce talented and committed writers. Through their stories, Shentalinksy demonstrates the courage and conviction of those who perished. His work is appropriate for scholars in the field and collections of Russian and Soviet literature.?Rena Fowler, Humboldt State Univ., Arcata, Cal.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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