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15th out of 41 books
—
33 voters
The Stalin Epigram
Based on a riveting historical episode, "The Stalin Epigram" is a fictional rendering of the life of Osip Mandelstam, perhaps the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century -- and one of the few artists in Soviet Russia who daringly refused to pay creative homage to Joseph Stalin. The poet's defiance of the Kremlin dictator and the Bolshevik regime -- particularly his...more
Hardcover, 384 pages
Published
May 12th 2009
by Simon & Schuster
(first published January 1st 2009)
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**** “The Stalin Epigram” by Robert Littell: This novel is a fictionalized account of some true events in the history of the Soviet Union. Osip Emilievich Mandelstam, who was considered by some as the great Russian poet of the 20th century, composed in the 1930’s a poem he titled “The Stalin Epigram”. It lampooned the murderous dictator. It was an act of madness or mad bravery and labeled him as an anti-Soviet wrecker, resulted in his arrest, his torture and his exile to the Soviet gulags of Sib...more
Jun 10, 2009
Richard
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Nobody: try a real biography.
Recommended to Richard by:
I read a review. If i can find it again, I'll make note of the r
Set in the bad old days of 1934 and onward in the Soviet Union (primarily Moscow), we learn the fictionalized account of the poets, writers and actors of the time: especially Osip Mandelstam and his wife and mistress.
It was a time of tremendous activity by the State Organs, ever vigilant for those people who were determined to wreck the coming Communist utopia.
Every time I thought I would quit and not finish the book, something happened in it to lead me on further.
The constant struggle of the pe...more
It was a time of tremendous activity by the State Organs, ever vigilant for those people who were determined to wreck the coming Communist utopia.
Every time I thought I would quit and not finish the book, something happened in it to lead me on further.
The constant struggle of the pe...more
Based upon the life of Russian poet Osip Mandelstam, this historic novel traces the events leading up to Mandelstam’s arrests and ultimate tragic fate. The author tells his story through a series of letters, memos or remembrances narrated by those closest to the poet or from the viewpoint of characters (some invented) whose lives interface with his. By following the lives of Mandelstam, his wife and friends as they attempt to cope with the terrorist tactics of the Soviet state, we get a grim pic...more
The story plays in Russia during the time when Stalin put a terror regime on the country to complete his idea of collectivization. Free speech could mean imprisonment and execution.
The main plot is around the poet Ossip Mandelstamm who is brave enough to compose a poem in which he criticise Stalin. I don't spoil too much when I say this will not end well.
The novel is told in form of reports from different people, which gives the book an interesting dynamic. Sometimes, it is very disturbing when...more
The main plot is around the poet Ossip Mandelstamm who is brave enough to compose a poem in which he criticise Stalin. I don't spoil too much when I say this will not end well.
The novel is told in form of reports from different people, which gives the book an interesting dynamic. Sometimes, it is very disturbing when...more
I really wanted to like this book. As a fictionalized account of the life of a dissident poet and the horrors he and others face after being betrayed by their own frightened countrymen, this should have been a moving and tragic story. Tragic, yes, but somehow all through the novel I felt distanced from the characters. Perhaps it was the technique of using different voices for the story that made it hard to feel deeply sympathetic toward the characters or perhaps it is that the story of Communist...more
The book is controversial but not totally bad and made quite a commotion of me.
Author did extensive reserach of life and circle of the poet. He certanly knows his ropes but some nuances in the relationships do not ring true or some people's motives not bear resemblance to the real life in Russia.
Most of all I did not like the author's approach to put his thoughts into the brain of the well-known poet and write many chapters from his 'first face'. There is no way to know for sure what Osip Mande...more
Author did extensive reserach of life and circle of the poet. He certanly knows his ropes but some nuances in the relationships do not ring true or some people's motives not bear resemblance to the real life in Russia.
Most of all I did not like the author's approach to put his thoughts into the brain of the well-known poet and write many chapters from his 'first face'. There is no way to know for sure what Osip Mande...more
I picked this book up knowing next to nothing about it, never having heard of Mandelstam or most of the other characters. However, I ended up enjoying it. The Stalin Epigram is not a spy novel. It has a very oppressive tone, since it takes place in Stalin's USSR and all. It is very much concerned with art, poetry, and artistic expression. I do wish the author had done more on that topic, but I liked what there was. I liked the different characters and their varying viewpoints. The writing was ve...more
Critics agree that The Stalin Epigram is a powerful novel. Littell, who met with Osip's wife in 1979 and recorded the story of his imprisonment and death, tells a harrowing, almost absurdist tale of imprisonment, exile, and death in the Soviet state. Turning from his Soviet spy thrillers, Littell provides an impeccably researched historical backdrop, and his multiple perspectives offer a full picture of the era's emotional and physical horrors. The strength of the book lies in Littell's command
...more
In the intro to the movie Fargo, the words "Based on a True Story" flash across the screen. The movie, however, is not actually based on a true story. Much has been written about the effect on the viewer of believing that the events of the film actually happened (vs. knowing that they are fictional). A similar dissonance is raised in The Stalin Epigram, which is a historical novel that hinges on the conceit of the author actually having recorded the stories his narrators tell.
I have mixed feelin...more
I have mixed feelin...more
A fictionalized (but close to the facts) account of the aftermath of Osip Mandelstam's decision to write a derogatory poem ("fingers are as fat as grubs" ) about Stalin called The Stalin Epigram in 1934.
The book employs many different narrative voices including such real people as Anna Ahkmatova, Boris Pasternak, Osip's wife Nadezhda Mandelstam Stalin's bodyguard Nikolai Vlasik and even the "Kremlin Highlander" himself. Mantelstam's story is contrasted with the story of a circus strongman who is...more
The book employs many different narrative voices including such real people as Anna Ahkmatova, Boris Pasternak, Osip's wife Nadezhda Mandelstam Stalin's bodyguard Nikolai Vlasik and even the "Kremlin Highlander" himself. Mantelstam's story is contrasted with the story of a circus strongman who is...more
I could not finish this book. The multiple first persons telling the story make it disjointed and inauthentic (I call this the Kingsolver style, except she uses this method to greater success). Even the language of each of the narrators seems very 21st century colloquial and just doesn't jive with the time period being portrayed (1930s Russia).
It is one thing to try to get into the mind of an historical figure through dialogue but to actually hold forth at length as if writing from his or her mi...more
It is one thing to try to get into the mind of an historical figure through dialogue but to actually hold forth at length as if writing from his or her mi...more
I found this book sommewhat similar to Littell's "Octcober Circle".
It's a very interesting fictionaized account of one of Russia's great poets, Osip Mandelstam, during the 1930's when Stalin crushed all free expression and decreed that the arts should serve only the purpose of the communist party. Russian writer's were arrested and perscuted for even the slightest suspicion of them writing anything critical of the regime. The book's title is taken from a epigram poem Osip wrote critical of Stali...more
It's a very interesting fictionaized account of one of Russia's great poets, Osip Mandelstam, during the 1930's when Stalin crushed all free expression and decreed that the arts should serve only the purpose of the communist party. Russian writer's were arrested and perscuted for even the slightest suspicion of them writing anything critical of the regime. The book's title is taken from a epigram poem Osip wrote critical of Stali...more
Excellent book, Kafkaesque and explicit
Osip Mandelstam's life takes a decisive turn when he decides to "stop beating around the bush" and tell the truth about the horrors of Stalinist Russia; Anna Ahkmatova, Boris Pasternak, Nadezhda Mandelstam, Stalin and several other characters, most notably "simple" weightlifter turned circus performer Fikrit Shotman appear in a darkly funny but ultimately tragic novel about the human meat grinder that was communism and one its worst incarnations in Stalin's...more
Osip Mandelstam's life takes a decisive turn when he decides to "stop beating around the bush" and tell the truth about the horrors of Stalinist Russia; Anna Ahkmatova, Boris Pasternak, Nadezhda Mandelstam, Stalin and several other characters, most notably "simple" weightlifter turned circus performer Fikrit Shotman appear in a darkly funny but ultimately tragic novel about the human meat grinder that was communism and one its worst incarnations in Stalin's...more
In 1934, Russian poet Osip Mandelstam wrote a poem called The Stalin Epigram which was a scathing indictment of Stalin. It's a pretty amazing little poem. Littell tells Mandelstam's story, along with the stories of some of those in his circle and how the epigram affected them. Many did not want to hear it, justly afraid of what would happen. Littell does a great job of etching the horror of Stalin's regime, and making Mandelstam and his circle human. A pretty gripping read.
This novel about the life of the Russian poet Osip Mandenstam was both a gripping story and a close look at the consequences of being an honest and courageous artist in Soviet Russia. The story is told from several points of view, including Osip's devoted wife and his cellmate, a weightlifter/circus strongman. The cruelties that the prisoners were subjected to made me think of the US prison at Guantanemo and hope that we are not practicing similar acts there.
I read reviews comparing it to 'Darkness at Noon'; the thing is, 'The Stalin Epigram' doesn't convey quite the same feeling of dread as Arthur Koestler's masterpiece. (Maybe because Koestler was once a communist and had the horrifying logic down pat, with the Moscow trials very fresh in his mind, while Littell isn't, and wrote his novel a whole lifetime after the fact.) Nadezhda Mandelstam's´portrayal is very well-crafted, though. It's worth the read.
Weirdly, this is kind of a crowd-pleasing page turner about the life of a poet under Stalin. It's told in half a dozen voices, including the poet's wife, his actress mistress, one of Stalin's bodyguards, another poet and a circus strongman. I gather it's a true story, more or less, and based on extensive interviews and research. But it nonetheless has a bit of a airport novel feel to it...serious subject, treatment a bit pulpy, but interesting.
Very good historical fiction. It uses narrators, real and fictitios, to tell the story of the lifa and persecutions of writers in Stalin's time. The real characters are Pasternak, Akhmatova, and the Mandelstams but the circus worker is fictitious. The most interesting part is the separation the author makes between Stalin and the Chekists. The author leaves the decision to the reader as to who was the culprit in the purges of the era, Stalin or the Chekists. Very good insight into Communist life...more
Jul 25, 2012
Amblingbooks.com
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
audiobooks,
historical
Legendary spy novelist and bestselling author Robert Littell presents a luminous historical novel chronicling the famous Russian poet Osip Mandelstam's defiance of Stalin's regime, his subsequent exile, and his tragic death.
Listen to The Stalin Epigram on your smartphone, notebook or desktop computer.
Listen to The Stalin Epigram on your smartphone, notebook or desktop computer.
Oct 21, 2012
Daisy
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
russia,
favorites-2nd-place
This feels real.
Bent over our small linoleum-covered kitchen table with a crust of bread under one leg to keep it from wobbling...
... marked by a wealth of detail and a poverty of ideas, but then propaganda doesn't need ideas.
Osip once seriously explained to me that most men and some women never cried because they were afraid of not being able to stop.
I have the good fortune to live in a country where poetry is respected--people are killed for reading, for writing it.
Screaming has a lot in commo...more
Bent over our small linoleum-covered kitchen table with a crust of bread under one leg to keep it from wobbling...
... marked by a wealth of detail and a poverty of ideas, but then propaganda doesn't need ideas.
Osip once seriously explained to me that most men and some women never cried because they were afraid of not being able to stop.
I have the good fortune to live in a country where poetry is respected--people are killed for reading, for writing it.
Screaming has a lot in commo...more
So, I'm kind of obsessed with soviet Russia, and I think Littell did a good job with this book. There was a random character that I could have done without and sometimes I was annoyed by the blurriness of the novel/biography line -- i.e. as a novel I was fine with it, as biography I wasn't and sometimes the author played too close to the biography line. But it was otherwise good.
Perhaps I have simply read too many fictious accounts of Soviet Russia but try as I might, I just could not enjoy this book. Truthfully, I only read until page 100 after which I happily retired this title and sent it back to the library. Not only was the spacing and font excruciatingly annoying, but it just read very clunky and I felt presented no new angles, insights or topics of intrigue. (or at least not in the 100 pages I read through)
Sorry Mr. Littell, I thought this a waste of time.
Sorry Mr. Littell, I thought this a waste of time.
This is a novel about real Russian people during the 1930s. The protagonist is Osip Mandelstam, a poet, who decides that he must write an anti Stalin poem. Of course he is arrested and we stay with him for the next three years. One of the other main characters is Boris Pasternak. This may be the most depressing book I've ever read.
Russia of the 1930’s, as experienced by its leading literary figures, Osip Mandelstam, Anna Akhmatova, and Boris Pasternak and vivid fictional characters, is re-imagined by the veteran Newsweek foreign correspondent-turned-political thriller novelist. The anguish of oppressed artists is captured in all its heartbreaking reality.
Not the usual cold war Spy v. Spy, but an imagined account of true events in USSR in the 30's. Not a gripping plot; some of the stories (the weight lifter) seemed too formulaic, but I think he conveyed some of what it must have been like for various people during that terrible time and place.
Jun 12, 2009
Miss GP
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
historical fiction fans
Recommended to Miss GP by:
Bookbrowse.com
I've been a fan of Robert Littell's writing ever since The Company, but I do think he's topped himself with his latest, The Stalin Epigram. Littell brings to life the characters that surrounded the poet Osip Mandelstam, as well as the very justified paranoia of Stalinist Russia. Excellent historical fiction, and a book I highly recommend.
Interesting book about Russia in the 1930's, about the famous Russian poet Mandelstum and how his fatal poem about Stalin met with torture, ostracism, and prison life. The book also included people from other professions, and how the oppressive regime of Stalin affected their lives.
Dec 22, 2010
Kristin
is currently reading it
Still a work in progress for me, this book has held me in its grasp for the past 5 days, making me wish I never had to get off the train for the sake of not missing a word of Littell's "truth-telling". So good it has inspired me to learn even more of Mandelstam
This book was good, but I didn't finish it before it was due at the library. I can't renew it, but I'm not really sweating it. I was more into the side characters than the "main" character, whom I thought was kind of a twerp. However, I liked the devices that Robert Littell uses in this book, particularly the form of the story told in the first person of the individuals involved. He is skilled and deft, I just can't seem to finish any of his books.
I'm not sure why I bought this, but it ended up on my bookshelf so I decided to read it. Score one for good decision making. A fictionalized account of the travails of Osip Mandelstam, a Russian poet in the time of Stalin, I found it a gripping, if understandably depressing, account of life in Uncle Joe's Soviet Union. It rivals Darkness at Noon in that regard.
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An American author residing in France. He specializes in spy novels that often concern the CIA and the Soviet Union. He became a journalist and worked many years for Newsweek during the Cold War. He's also an amateur mountain climber and is the father of award-winning novelist Jonathan Littell.
More about Robert Littell...
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Jul 12, 2009 07:32pm