Product Description
The year was the year '92--the year of leanness--the scene a spot between Sukhum and Otchenchiri, on the river Kodor, a spot so near to the sea that amid the joyous babble of a sparkling rivulet the ocean's deep-voiced thunder was plainly distinguishable. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Bolshevism's laureate
Gorky has been somewhat ignored as a literary figure of recent times. Probably because of his status as a Bolshevik writer. His subsequent voluntary 'exile' to Italy and his return to the Soviet Union have always raised eyebrows. Gorky had a complicated relationship with Stalin and was all too often played like a fiddle by Stalin to add literary and intellectual credibility to Stalin's various imperial schemes. For example, it was Gorky who was sent on a tour of the Gulags and returned writing praise of the conditions he found there, whilst it is obvious that there was the heavy hand of the sensor here, there remains the suspicion that Gorky was keen to retain his status as a writer in the Soviet Union with the privilages and Dachas that came with it. However, it is easy to sit in democratic London and pass judgement on such situations, Stalin, was not a man to be trifled with.

This collection of short stories show Gorky at his best. The character of the worker/peasant shines through the complexities and traumas of Russian life. The characters are vivaciaous and real and the stories are a very good read.

Some of the best short stories I have ever read.
Yet another criminally ignored writer. While Chekhov isn't exactly "well-known," he's at least widely recognized, and relatively inexpensive editions of some of his works are available from the likes of Penguin Classics. No such luck for Maksim Gorkii, despite his being one of the best authors of all time. This is, in fact, the first time I have seen an English translation of "Through Russia." For the intents and purposes of this review, I'll assume that this is the same "Through Russia" as the one I read - a collection of Gorkii's short stories. Okay, then.

Gorkii is perhaps the spiritually strongest human being to ever have lived. His three-part autobiography will reveal that he did not grow up in a very happy family, and that's putting it very lightly. Then, before he even entered his teenage years, he was already "among the people," working like the others, and face-to-face with the most grim, banal and disgusting aspects of modern life. But he didn't break under it. Not a chance. Instead of succumbing, he not only managed to maintain his personal honour, grace and dignity, but also sought and fought for something more than the world offered, which he found in the form of books. Surrounded by ignorance and apathy, he nonetheless managed to retain his love of books and of truth - and took it with him to the road. Far from trying to escape life, Gorkii took it on head-to-head, and won. He travelled all over Russia, saw all sorts of people, worked at all kinds of jobs, and saw more in his lifetime than most people ever will, and this book is the result. It is a series of sketches and stories, all of which were directly recorded from his experiences. And what a book it is.

Gorkii's books are life. They're not even Naturalistic - Naturalists researched life, but didn't necessarily record it exactly. Gorkii's books _are_ life. What you're reading is what happened. And it's absolutely amazing. There are unbearable amounts of apathy, dirt and indignity in life, but there are the people, few and far between, who redeem all of it, who rise above their surroundings and shine. Gorkii was such a person, and others are present in this book. Perhaps that ultimately life-affirming reassurance, the knowledge that there are people who know the true value of the world, that makes Gorkii's books so powerful, and what made their author capable of beating life.

Not all of the stories are overwhelmingly powerful. In the middle, the book drags somewhat, apparently retreading the territory of other Gorkii works such as "Okurov Town." But some of these are literally some of the best stories ever written. I can only try to describe them; you'll have to read them. First we have "Birth of a Man," which basically summarizes Gorkii's major theme in fifteen pages. More powerful, however, is "Woman." I don't think I'll ever be able to forget the title character. But the real force of the book comes in the last three stories. First we have one with an untranslatable title, about an encounter the author has with the utter dregs of society, rejected even by the drunks and the freaks, a story about poverty, humanity, and survival. Then we shift gears completely for the odd, almost surreal story of an encounter with a decrepit old farm and its inhabitants in some desert. (I swear, I -heard- the woman sing...) And last is another desert story, wistful and melancholy with a violent conclusion. Its title character's sort of nonchalant fatalism is also not easy to forget. "First I'm here, then I have to leave. At home I have a friend, I leave and he betrays me. When spirits laugh, people cry. That's the way things are..."

I realize I haven't exactly done a good job of describing what these are about, but it's something one has to experience for themselves. Think nothing of the price and buy this book. I hope to hell that the translation is at least competent. ... Read more

Product Description
Interweaving autobiography with history, introspection and political commentary, Mary Antin recounts the process of "uprooting, transportation, replanting, acclimatization, and development that took place in my own soul", and reveals the impact of a new culture on her family. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Interesting but not the greatest
I remember reading this work years ago in connection with the study I was then making of American Jewish Literature. My impression was much that of another Amazon reader. It is at times a vivid account of a new immigrant experience, but the tale is not told with the deepest intensity of feeling. It may be unfair but the comparison which comes to mind is with Henry Roth's "Call it Sleep" which is a fictional work but one which goes deep into the soul and consciousness. This work is a more externally directed narrative, and has its virtue in giving a picture of one person's move to the New World.

Interesting Look at Immigrant Experience
Mary Antin's experiences presumably match the experiences of many immigrants coming to America in the heady days just before the dawn of the twentienth century.The Promised Land, for that reason, holds a high degree of historical interest for anyone with a fascination for this period and the process of an immigrant's journey from their mother country to their new home.I wish I could recommend it more highly but it is written in such drippingly purple tones that at times it comes close to being cringe worthy.The author did possess a high degree of self awareness but an often low degree of awareness of others that makes her endlessly new revelations about herself seem more and more self-centred.This book is of its time with its concern for the early progessive movements' ideas about cleanliness and the prose stylings from the end of the nineteenth century.It can a little hard going but is worth the effort for a look at one woman's journey to an America that once followed the words written on the Statue of Liberty.

Good, but conceited
This was a very interesting account of an immigrant girl's life in America.The first half of the book is about her life in Russia and it is helpful in explaining what type of world the author came from and why America was such a new world to her.I found the factual accounts in this book fascinating but when Ms. Antin started spouting her theories about life and about herself (which she does quite a bit), she appeared to me to be tiresome and conceited.I would recommend this book because it does give an interesting perspective on the life of an immigrant, although it can get very bogged down in places.

A fabulous find
It is hard to believe I never was required to read this wonderful book, and I am thankful to have discovered it as a result of reading a children's book based on it (by Rosemary Wells, also highly recommended) to mychildren.The circumstances of its writing are remarkable; the imagesluminous and the prose unbelievably beautiful for any author, especiallyfor a recent immigrant.But it is the insight into her personality,culture and psyche which appeal to me the most.You will also like thepersonalities you meet through her.This book should be read by anyone wholoves the English language, loves America, or just loves a window into thesoul of another. ... Read more

Product Description
Of Mermaids and Rock Singers examines the roles, functions and interpretations of rock music as part of the initial push towards exploring national and personal identities in a newly independent Belarus. Based on field work with Belarusan musicians, this book is the first to combine cultural and musical analysis in the exploration of the connections between post-Soviet society and contemporary Belarusan music, that is, the making of history and the making of music. ... Read more

Product Description
Rejecting the cliche about weak identity and underdeveloped nationalism, Bekus argues for the co-existence of two parallel concepts of Belarusianness - the official and the alternative one - which mirrors the current state of the Belarusian people more accurately and allows for a different interpretation of the interconnection between the democratization and nationalization of Belarusian society. The book describes how the ethno-symbolic nation of the Belarusian nationalists, based on the cultural capital of the Golden Age of the Belarusian past (17th century) competes with the nation - institutionalized and reified by the numerous civic rituals and social practices under the auspices of the actual Belarusian state. Comparing the two concepts not only provides understanding of the logic that dominates Belarusian society's self-description models, but also enables us to evaluate the chances of alternative Belarusianness to win this unequal struggle over identity. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a charming portrait of childhood in the Russian market town where the great painter and his wife grew up. Bella's warm, humorous stories of her pious Jewish family are illustrated by 36 of her husband's pen-and-ink line drawings. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Primitive and uninspiring, just does not sound authentic
I am sorry to say that this was such a bad book, I really was expecting something much better. Bella wrote about her childhood in Vitebsk (Belarus) in a fake "children" style, i.e. using language you see in a homework essay of a ten year old. It was supposed to be cute. But it just did not sound right for me. Second, there are almost no country-specific details at all. Bella does not care about Belarusian culture or the fact that it was under Russian occupation at that point. So, over all, the best thing about this book is Marc Chagall's little graphics. They are so nice and so Belarusian and really convey the feeling of nostalgy for Vitebsk, where I've been on a few occasions. It may be very interesting and educational for a Western reader who does not know anything at all about life in Belarus, (then under the Russian empirial rule), but personally I expected much more.

Touching
This book was penetrating and witty, giving a portrait of pre-war Vitebsk that makes the reader feel transported back to that time and location. Sweet without being cloying, the memoir bursts from the pages as if Bella were in front of you, holding a conversation with you.

enchanting child's-eye memoir of Russian Jewish life
With illustrations by her husband Marc, Bella Chagall's memoir comes from the poignant brush strokes of childhood, focusing on Jewish holidays and family life.If you are curious about the life your immigrant forebears left behind, this will satisfy.I highly recommend it. ... Read more