LEADER 00000nam 22004811i 4500
001 frd00009438
003 CtWfDGI
005 20160606135553.0
006 m eo d
007 cr un ---anuuu
008 160606s2016 xx eo 000 0 eng d
020 9781504035040|q(e-pub)
024 3 9781504035040
040 CtWfDGI|beng|erda|cCtWfDGI
043 e-ur---|ae-uk-en
050 4 DK28
082 04 914.704/853|223
100 1 Sillitoe, Alan.
245 10 Gadfly in Russia :|bA Story of Travel, History, People,
and Places /|cAlan Sillitoe.
264 1 [Place of publication not identified] :|bOpen Road Media,
|c[2016]
264 4 |c©2016
300 1 online resource (242 pages)
336 text|btxt|2rdacontent
337 computer|bc|2rdamedia
338 online resource|bcr|2rdacarrier
506 Access limited to subscribing institutions.
520 This memoir and literary travelogue from one of the UK’s
most esteemed novelists offers rare insight into Cold
War–era Russia. In 1967, seeking an escape from his
writing life, bestselling British novelist Alan Sillitoe
embarks on a road trip from England to Russia via Harwich
and Finland in his sturdy Peugeot. During his teens, the
author had a cartographic fascination with the Battle of
Stalingrad, and decades later he is still armed with
intricate maps of the country based on British military
intelligence, including one of the road from Leningrad to
Moscow to Kiev, which he drew himself. Also in tow are a
prismatic compass, binoculars, and a shortwave radio
receiver. However, despite being so well prepared,
Sillitoe embarks with naiveté about the political
precariousness of an Englishman in the eyes of the Soviet
regime. After passing through the endless days of a
Scandinavian summer and a prolonged stop at a border
control checkpoint—with his maps hidden in a secret
compartment of the car—Sillitoe arrives in Leningrad.
There, he meets George Andjaparidze, a worldly and candid
English student who has been assigned by the Writers’
Union to serve as the author’s guide and keep him out of
trouble. Though Sillitoe would rather continue his journey
solo, Andjaparidze grows on him, and they begin what will
become a lasting friendship. As soon as the duo leaves
Leningrad, adventures and misadventures ensue. En route to
Moscow, Sillitoe and Andjaparidze end up racing a pack of
middle-age men in German sports cars partaking in a Berlin
-to-Moscow rally. Sillitoe and Andjaparidze’s time in the
capital is equally fast-paced, consisting of late nights
fueled by vodka, impounded rubles, caviar breakfasts,
erudite parties, and a pat on the back from a traffic cop
for writing about the working class. A winding drive
across western Russia and into Yugoslavia follows, replete
with rebellious literature students, a speech on freedom,
a visit to Tolstoy’s estate, accusations of espionage, and
a near-fatal run-in with a brigade of Red Army tanks. At
last the writer and guide reach their destination: Kursk,
that fateful place where a Soviet victory in 1943 turned
back the Nazi tide. But the story continues long after the
road trip ends. Back in England, Andjaparidze visits
Sillitoe and the two are caught up in a controversy
surrounding the defection of the Soviet writer Anatoly
Kuznetsov. Written from the perspective of another trip to
Russia forty years later (Sillitoe was invited in 2005 by
the British Council to return to Moscow), this travelogue
provides a rare and intimate look at the country’s history
, a compassionate understanding of its troubled ideology,
and a frank portrayal of its undeniable lure.
538 System requirements: Adobe Digital editions.
588 0 Print version record.
600 10 Sillitoe, Alan|xTravel|zSoviet Union.
600 10 Sillitoe, Alan|vDiaries.
650 0 Automobile travel|zSoviet Union.
650 0 English|xTravel|zSoviet Union.
650 0 Authors, English|y20th century|vDiaries.
650 7 TRAVEL / Essays & Travelogues.|2bisacsh
651 0 Soviet Union|xDescription and travel.
651 0 Soviet Union|xHistory|y1953-1985.
651 0 Soviet Union|xSocial life and customs|y1917-1970.
655 0 Electronic books.
776 08 |iPrint version:|aSillitoe, Alan.|tGadfly in Russia.
|dLondon : JR Books, 2008.|z9781906217587 (pbk.)
|w(DLC)2008541181
914 frd00009438
