The Black Russian

January 21, 2013
Alexandrov (Nabokov’s Otherworld) exports the American dream to the cold climes of Russia in this promising but plodding tale of reinvention. Growing up on the family farm in Mississippi in the late 19th century, Frederick Bruce Thomas learned valuable lessons about business and manners, but as the child of prosperous free blacks, he also learned how to successfully negotiate social and racial boundaries. In flat-as-concrete prose, Alexandrov, a professor of Slavic languages and literature at Yale, chronicles the dogged rise and inglorious fall of Thomas as he traverses the globe in search of success. After his father is murdered by envious whites, Thomas moves from city to city, eventually shipping off from New York City for London and then Paris. There, he becomes fluent in French and serves as the personal valet to a wealthy American on the Riviera before making his way to his adopted home: Moscow. Smitten with the Russian way of life and flush with cash from various business ventures, Thomas changes his name to Fyodor Fyodorovich Thomas and petitions to become a subject of the czar. But even so deft a self-fashioner as Thomas can’t escape the cataclysms of the 1910s. Though Thomas’s is a fascinating and unique story, Alexandrov’s tedious and lackluster telling saps the tale of life. Agent: Michael Carlisle, Inkwell Management.

March 15, 2013

In this intriguing work, Alexandrov (Slavic languages & literature, Yale Univ.; Limits to Interpretation: The Meanings of Anna Karenina), introduces "The Black Russian," the charismatic and optimistic Frederick Bruce Thomas (1872-1928). Thomas, the son of former slaves in Mississippi, who traveled to London seeking work as a waiter, moved to Russia where he advanced through the restaurant business. For 20 years, he successfully ran a series of theaters and restaurants, introducing the Russian public to international talents (e.g., Jack Johnson) as well as new entertainment (jazz and the tango), and choosing to raise his family where the line of discrimination was religious rather than racial. Unfortunately, the Russian Revolution caused him to flee to Turkey and forfeit his properties and millions. New ventures in Turkey were initially successful, but within a decade his luck ran out: in debt and unable to convince the American authorities of his right to American citizenship, he died in a Turkish prison. VERDICT Set against the dramatic backdrop of the upheavals in Russia and Turkey in the early 20th century, this biography will interest those who enjoy a good rags-to-riches story (albeit an ultimately sad one). For more on African American immigrants in Russia, although not directly relating to Turner, see Ed Hotaling's Wink: The Incredible Life & Epic Journey of Jimmy Winkfield and Joy Gleason Carew's Black, Reds, & Russians. [See Prepub Alert, 10/15/12.]--Maria Bagshaw, Elgin Community Coll. Lib., IL

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