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Поэты и цари.
Поэт и царь, художник и власть…
Гении и злодеи – тема вечная, которая в разные исторические периоды преломлялась по+разному.
Валерия Новодворская предлагает свой, нетривиальный, взгляд на эту проблему.
Под ее острым, блистательным пером всем известные факты перестают быть догмой и предстают в совершенно ином свете, а имена, знакомые с детства, начинают звучать совсем не так, как раньше.
Гении и злодеи – тема вечная, которая в разные исторические периоды преломлялась по+разному.
Валерия Новодворская предлагает свой, нетривиальный, взгляд на эту проблему.
Под ее острым, блистательным пером всем известные факты перестают быть догмой и предстают в совершенно ином свете, а имена, знакомые с детства, начинают звучать совсем не так, как раньше.
- GenresNonfiction
480 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
1 person is currently reading
29 people want to read
About the author
Valeriya Novodvorskaya
8 books17 followersValeriya Ilyinichna Novodvorskaya was a Russian liberal politician, Soviet dissident, political commentator and writer. She was the founder and the chairwoman of the "Democratic Union" party, and a member of the editorial board of The New Times.
Novodvorskaya was active in the Soviet dissident movement from her youth, and was first imprisoned by the Soviet authorities in 1969 for distributing leaflets that criticized the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.
The leaflets included her poetry: "Thank you, the Communist Party for our bitterness and despair, for our shameful silence, thank you the Party!" Novodvorskaya was only 19 at this time.
She was arrested and imprisoned in a Soviet psychiatric hospital and, like many other Soviet dissidents, diagnosed with "sluggish schizophrenia".
In the early 1990s psychiatrists of the Independent Psychiatric Association of Russia proved that the claim of her mental illness was bogus.
She described her experience in th 'Psikhushka' ('psyche-ward') in her book 'Beyond Despair'.
Novodvorskaya was active in the Soviet dissident movement from her youth, and was first imprisoned by the Soviet authorities in 1969 for distributing leaflets that criticized the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.
The leaflets included her poetry: "Thank you, the Communist Party for our bitterness and despair, for our shameful silence, thank you the Party!" Novodvorskaya was only 19 at this time.
She was arrested and imprisoned in a Soviet psychiatric hospital and, like many other Soviet dissidents, diagnosed with "sluggish schizophrenia".
In the early 1990s psychiatrists of the Independent Psychiatric Association of Russia proved that the claim of her mental illness was bogus.
She described her experience in th 'Psikhushka' ('psyche-ward') in her book 'Beyond Despair'.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 27, 2019
The book has an unusual and ambitious structure. While ostensibly it is a collection of essays about Russian writers and poets, it is really an attempt to trace out Russian history through their suffering. The essays often include selected poetry, and are interleaved with commentary by two contributing authors Alfred Cox (served under Yeltsin) and Igor Svinarenko (journalist). These two also cook-up a few tongue-and-cheek parodies of classic plotlines by setting them in modern context.
Second half of the book morphs from poet-centric material to historico-philosophical sketches. For example, there is a take on Greco-Roman influence on the Russian psyche, and a vignette about cumulative effects of Byzantine, Scandinavian and Mongol traditions in Russian history.
On top of essays, commentary, and historical notes Novodvorskaya maintains a metaphor of a temple throughout the book. Each writer is framed as a deity in a pantheon, with a loose hierarchy based on talent and significance. Giants like Dostoevsky and Pushkin, and martyrs like Akhmatova or Mandelstam easily make it in of course, but collaborating with a regime will get you temple’s sidewall at best (Aleksei Tolstoy).
What are we to make of all this? The structure of the book is a mess, experiment with two contributors in the first half is unnecessary, and meta-pontifications on the arc of history are too pompous. That said there are five-six core essays which are absolutely fantastic, and another handful are damn good.
Finally, my biggest issue is Novodvorskaya’s overall tenor. On the plus side her writing is evocative and rich, and it shines with cultural knowledge and intelligence. However, her sentiment is just too precious and obsessive. She is clearly willing to worship the geniuses, and would gladly wash their feet if she could. She also absolutely abhors the Soviet regime and can’t stand the thought of all the lives that it ruined. Her angst, pain and hatred are so intense that in the end they obscure the subject matter. I wanted a book about poets and history, instead I got an account of somebody’s intense adulation and repugnance.
Second half of the book morphs from poet-centric material to historico-philosophical sketches. For example, there is a take on Greco-Roman influence on the Russian psyche, and a vignette about cumulative effects of Byzantine, Scandinavian and Mongol traditions in Russian history.
On top of essays, commentary, and historical notes Novodvorskaya maintains a metaphor of a temple throughout the book. Each writer is framed as a deity in a pantheon, with a loose hierarchy based on talent and significance. Giants like Dostoevsky and Pushkin, and martyrs like Akhmatova or Mandelstam easily make it in of course, but collaborating with a regime will get you temple’s sidewall at best (Aleksei Tolstoy).
What are we to make of all this? The structure of the book is a mess, experiment with two contributors in the first half is unnecessary, and meta-pontifications on the arc of history are too pompous. That said there are five-six core essays which are absolutely fantastic, and another handful are damn good.
Finally, my biggest issue is Novodvorskaya’s overall tenor. On the plus side her writing is evocative and rich, and it shines with cultural knowledge and intelligence. However, her sentiment is just too precious and obsessive. She is clearly willing to worship the geniuses, and would gladly wash their feet if she could. She also absolutely abhors the Soviet regime and can’t stand the thought of all the lives that it ruined. Her angst, pain and hatred are so intense that in the end they obscure the subject matter. I wanted a book about poets and history, instead I got an account of somebody’s intense adulation and repugnance.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews