In the Jaws of the Crocodile: A Soviet Memoir

by Emil Draitser

Emil Draitser dreamed of becoming a writer. Born to a working-class Jewish family in the USSR on the eve of World War II, he came of age during the Brezhnev era, often considered the nadir of Soviet culture. Bored with an engineering job, he found refuge in writing, attracting the attention of a Moscow editor who encouraged him to try his hand at satire. He spent the next decade contributing to  Crocodile , the major Party-sponsored magazine known for its sharp-tongued essays and caustic cartoons. After he got in trouble for criticizing an important Soviet official, he began weighing the heavy decision of whether to emigrate.

In this captivating memoir, Draitser explores what it means to be a satirist in a country lacking freedom of expression. His experience provides a window into the lives of a generation of artists who were allowed to poke fun and make readers laugh, as long as they toed a narrow, state-approved line. In the Jaws of the Crocodile also includes several of Draitser’s wry pieces translated into English for the first time.

Genres: Memoir

280 pages, Hardcover

Published January 19, 2021

About the author

An author and professor of Russian at Hunter College in NYC, a three-time recipient of fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, in addition to his twelve books, his work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Partisan Review, and the North American Review. "