Seppe Sandra’s Reviews > Europe Central > Status Update

"He remembered the cavalry parade of '35, and where were those men now? First Warsaw, then Moscow; first the Black Sea, then the Caspian; first Rostov in the summer, then the snowy filth and lunar ice of Mamayev Hill; first mechanized columns in perfect order, then broken men and broken engines, tanks with red flags on them, snow-gushes of explosions."

"At the end of the third act, Stalin, Molotov and the other luminaries arose from the State Box, then withdrew in an ominous silence. Sickened, Shostakovich waited out the final act, composed his face into the deathmask serenity required by the times[...]. He went backstage to thank the musicians--who recoiled as if he were a leper. His mouth twitched crazily. He took up his briefcase in silence. No one saw him out."

“Then what? Then bare trees in the snow on the Moika Embankment. And that night when I went home I don’t mind confessing that my head was filled with all kinds of ridiculous word-rubbish, such as ‘the moon and the candles’, and ‘a kiss upon her eyelashes’. What was I to do? Finally I picked up The Foundations of Leninism and read two pages at random. That cured me.”

"In a moment steel will begin to move, slowly at first, like troop trains pulling out of their stations, then more quickly and ubiquitously, the square crowds of steel-helmed men moving forward, flanked by rows of shiny planes; then tanks, planes and other projectiles will accelerate beyond recall."