Fear and the Muse Kept Watch: The Russian Masters—from Akhmatova and Pasternak to Shostakovich and Eisenstein—Under Stalin, by Andy McSmith
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Fear and the Muse Kept Watch: The Russian Masters—from Akhmatova and Pasternak to Shostakovich and Eisenstein—Under Stalin, by Andy McSmith
Free Ebook Online Fear and the Muse Kept Watch: The Russian Masters—from Akhmatova and Pasternak to Shostakovich and Eisenstein—Under Stalin, by Andy McSmith
In this dazzling exploration of one of the most contradictory periods of literary and artistic achievement in modern history, journalist Andy McSmith evokes the lives of more than a dozen of the most brilliant artists and writers of the twentieth century. Taking us deep into Stalin’s Russia, Fear and the Muse Kept Watch asks the question: can great art be produced in a police state? For although Josif Stalin ran one of the most oppressive regimes in world history, under him Russia also produced an outpouring of artistic works of immense and lasting power—from the poems of Anna Akhmatova and Osip Mandelstam to the opera Peter and the Wolf, the film Alexander Nevsky, and the novels The Master and Margarita and Doctor Zhivago.For those artists visible enough for Stalin to take an interest in them, it was Stalin himself who decided whether they lived in luxury or were sent to the Lubyanka, the headquarters of the secret police, to be tortured and sometimes even executed. McSmith brings together the stories of these artists—including Isaac Babel, Boris Pasternak, Dmitri Shostakovich, and many others—revealing how they pursued their art under Stalin’s regime and often at great personal risk. It was a world in which the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, whose bright yellow tunic was considered a threat to public order under the tsars, struggled to make the communist authorities see the value of avant garde art; Babel publicly thanked the regime for allowing him the privilege of not writing; and Shostakovich’s career veered wildly between public disgrace and wealth and acclaim.In the tradition of Eileen Simpson’s Poets in Their Youth and Phyllis Rose’s Parallel Lives, Fear and the Muse Kept Watch is an extraordinary work of historical recovery. It is also a bold exploration of the triumph of art during terrible times and a book that will stay with its readers for a long, long while.
Fear and the Muse Kept Watch: The Russian Masters—from Akhmatova and Pasternak to Shostakovich and Eisenstein—Under Stalin, by Andy McSmith- Amazon Sales Rank: #451114 in Books
- Published on: 2015-07-07
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.10" h x 1.20" w x 6.10" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 416 pages
Review "McSmith writes journalist’s history in the best sense, accounting for persons and events without resorting to theory, psychological or political. With clear-eyed restraint and unsentimental sympathy for the victims, he tells the story of Stalin’s quarter-century effort, ended only by his death, to manage the greatest Russian artists of the time through intimidation, harassment, jailing, torture, and, when circumstances allowed, murder. . . . An invaluable contribution to serious popular history."—Booklist"The author has a deep affinity for these artists, and his portrayal of their struggles makes our appreciation of them even stronger. . . . Valuable."—Kirkus Reviews"Revelatory. . . . McSmith . . . has done a masterful job of researching and describing what it was like for writers, musicians and filmmakers to create under one of the most oppressive regimes in history. . . . Using extensive primary and secondary sources, McSmith reveals a remarkable story about art triumphing over evil."—Shelf Awareness
About the Author Andy McSmith is Political Editor of the Independent on Sunday. His previous books include John Smith: Playing the Long Game, Kenneth Clarke: A Political Biography and Faces of Labour.
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Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. A haunting, marvellous, masterful narrative of artists under Stalin's Russia: By Sigrid Olsen There have been some excellent books out about the Stalinist Era and people and artists trying to survive...but Fear and the Muse includes a wider subject matter and is really a marvel of research and narrative. I found myself frequently looking up the names in this rich dense book, and was amazed to learn their stories...some are very tragic while others endure exile, near misses, or are protected only to be targeted in a second wave of persecution after World War II, when Stalin still remained at the helm. McSmith begins his story during the relatively benign early Communist Days when artists strove to be different and send a new message about the revolutionary world, but as Stalin gains power, things change. Against the backdrop of political purges, comes the artistic persecutions. Plays, poems and art all are questioned, while their authors are terrified into submission, silence, or murdered. McSmith includes the story of Vsevolod Meyerhold, the theater director, whose wife was brutally murdered, while he was sadistically tortured to death. At the same time, we learn about Prokofiev's homesickness for Russia and his return (which led to complications, but did produce the enchanting Peter and the Wolf.) It includes conversations that Pasternak had with Stalin about the "has been" Anna Akhmatova. Throughout all the changing attitudes toward art and the state McSmith weaves his narrative with the vivid skein of Russia's artists, suppressed, starved and scared, and still productive. This narrative makes one wonder at their persistence, and knowing that even the smallest incursion could mean years of forced labor. The author also includes information gleaned from post Communist archives. This is a wonderful book and very readable...it unfolds story after story, each fascinating, including all the major players-- Eisenstein, Gorky, Shostakovich-- with personal details that bring each character's motives into the context of what was happening in Russia. McSmith also quotes many poems, passages, and conversations that help us to learn what exactly was under attack. It also includes Stalin's own opinions on how art should be produced and monitored by the state. Though non-fiction, the succinct and well chosen details of this book made me feel as if I entered into another era.
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