Pushkin's Children
Writing on Russia and Russians
- اطلاعات
- نقد و بررسی
- دیدگاه کاربران
نقد و بررسی
December 16, 2002
Written between 1990 and 2000, the 20 essays in this collection offer a progressive, dynamic meditation on Russia's recent political and cultural climate. Many of the pieces are book reviews culled from such publications as the New York Review of Books
and the New Republic, but Tolstaya, an internationally acclaimed journalist and fiction writer (The Golden Porch; Sleepwalker in a Fog), goes far beyond the task of reviewing. Her careful and succinct critiques offer original, highly informed takes on the books' subjects, ranging from political biography to cultural history. Tolstaya has little patience for writers who shore shoddy research with patronizing egotism, illustrated by such lines from this stinger of a review of Gail Sheehy's 1990 biography of Gorbachev: "You have to be quite fearless, an adventurer, extraordinarily self-assured, to offer American readers a book about a country that you yourself do not understand." In 1991, Tolstaya defends Yeltsin against criticisms that his decrees to wrest power from Communist Party leaders were undemocratic: "A man who watches a wolf devouring his child does not begin a discussion of animal rights." Tolstaya reserves particular contempt for Alexander Solzhenitsyn. In reviews of two of his works, she finds that the isolated writer and political activist idol was rendered obsolete long before his 1995 return to Russia. In the end, Tolstaya's essays in this compact, historically significant volume offer a fascinating, highly intelligent analysis of Russian society and politics.
Starred review from December 1, 2002
This collection of book reviews and essays, many of which have previously appeared in the New York Review of Books, is the first book of nonfiction from this great-grandniece of Leo Tolstoy. Tolstaya covers a broad range of topics: classical Russian cooking, the bliss of snow, Russian writers, and some of the changes that have taken place in Russia under the regimes of Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Putin. Tolstaya, who lives in Russia, has the advantage of having seen and experienced firsthand both the literary and the political changes that have swept the country, and this perspective gives her essays and reviews a sharp edge; she can convey a humorous or a satirical tone depending on her topic. Of particular interest are her essay on Yeltsin's overthrow of Gorbachev, in which she recounts the bitter dislike of the one for the other; and her moving tribute to Joseph Brodsky, the Nobel prize-winning poet. Readers will find these essays and reviews engrossing and a treat to read. Recommended for academic libraries and large public libraries. [Tolstaya's first novel, The Slynx, will be published next month by Houghton.-Ed.]-Ron Ratliff, Kansas State Univ., Manhattan
Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
January 1, 2003
The 20 pieces in this collection were written between 1990 and 2000 and appeared in such journals as the" New York Review of Books," the " New Republic," " Wilson Quarterly," the" New Yorker," and the" New York Times Magazine." The majority are book reviews the author deftly expands into essays. Also included is an elegy for the late poet, Joseph Brodsky, and a short, but poetic, piece on the indomitability and triumph of nature (in the form of snow) over technology (the snowplow) in St. Petersburg. Many of the reviews feature the iconoclastic Tolstaya at her best: taking aim and puncturing the oversize egos of those who purported to know what was best for Russia in its first post-Soviet decade. Furthermore, Tolstaya can spot a phony (whether Russian or Western) a kilometer away, and she delights in sounding the alarm. When the genuine article crosses her path, she is equally generous in singing its praises. Best of all, the reader does not have to agree with her to enjoy her essays.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)
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