Posts tagged ‘Russian’
The Keeper of Antiquities
Review by Steve Savage
The events of this novel unfold over a few months in the 1930s in the Soviet Union. It is hard to say what exactly makes the book such a good read — perhaps it is that the author, Yury Dombrovsky, does not pay too much attention to politics. The narrator is affected by the politics of the time, unsurprisingly, but his interests lie elsewhere. He is fascinated by the prerevolutionary engineer who built many of Alma-Ata’s major buildings, including the remarkable ornate wooden cathedral, now deconsecrated and turned into a museum, where he works. He is in love with the trees and flowers of Alma-Ata, so far from Moscow and so different. But nothing is secure in this earthquake-prone region (more…)
Yury Dombrovsky
Yury Dombrovsky was born in Moscow in 1909. He was arrested in 1932 and sent to Alma-Ata (known as Verny before 1921 and since renamed Almaty) which was then the capital of Kazakhstan. He was arrested again in 1937 and more arrests followed. He eventually emerged from prison camp in 1957. His first novel The Keeper of Antiquities appeared in two parts in Novy Mir in 1964 and was published in book form in 1966. He was married to Clara Fazulayevna. Dombrovsky died in 1978.
