Books — Marian Schwartz

March 1917: The Red Wheel, Node III, Book 2, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

The Red Wheel is Solzhenitsyn’s magnum opus about the Russian Revolution. Solzhenitsyn tells this story in the form of a meticulously researched historical novel, supplemented by newspaper headlines of the day, fragments of street action, cinematic screenplay, and historical overview. The first two nodes— August 1914 and November 1916—focus on Russia’s crises and recovery, on revolutionary terrorism and its suppression, on the missed opportunity of Pyotr Stolypin’s reforms, and how the surge of patriotism in August 1914 soured as Russia bled in World War I. March 1917—the third node—tells the story of the Russian Revolution itself, during which not only does the Imperial government melt in the face of the mob, but the leaders of the opposition prove utterly incapable of controlling the course of events.

History, FictionMarian SchwartzNovember 2, 2019Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Marian Schwartz, Center for Ethics and Culture, University of Notre Dame Press, Soviet studies, Russian revolution, Red Wheel, Publicat, Publication feature, Gallery

The Man Who Couldn't Die: The Tale of an Authentic Human Being, by Olga Slavnikova

In the chaos of early-1990s Russia, a paralyzed veteran’s wife and stepdaughter conceal the Soviet Union’s collapse from him in order to keep him—and his pension—alive, until it turns out the tough old man has other plans. An instant classic of post-Soviet Russian literature, Olga Slavnikova’s The Man Who Couldn’t Die tells the story of how two women try to prolong a life—and the means and meaning of their own lives—by creating a world that doesn’t change, a Soviet Union that never crumbled.

FictionMarian SchwartzFebruary 3, 2019Marian Schwartz, Russian fiction, Olga Slavnikova, Columbia University Press, Read Russia, Russian Library, Yasnaya Polyana Prize, The Man Who Couldn't Die, Publication feature, Publication preview, GalleryComment