Rachel Polonsky
explores
Molotov's Magic Lantern:
Travels in Russian History
DateJan
13
Thursday
January 13, 2011 7:00 PM |
LocationHarvard Book Store
1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138 |
Tickets
This event is free; no tickets are required.
|
Harvard Book Store is delighted to welcome journalist RACHEL POLONSKY as she discusses her new exploration of Russian cultural history, Molotov′s Magic Lantern: Travels in Russian History.
In Molotov’s Magic Lantern, Polonsky visits the haunted cities and vivid landscapes of the books from Molotov’s library: works by Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Pushkin, Akhmatova, and others, some of whom were sent to the Gulag by the very man who collected their books. Polonsky writes about the longings and aspirations of these Russian writers and others in the course of her travels from the Arctic to Siberia and from the forests around Moscow to the vast steppes.
“The result is an eccentric work, daring in conception, peculiar in construction, that incorporates all Polonsky’s teeming scholarly knowledge of Russia and the Russian people.... In the course of her travels, Polonsky visits monasteries, dachas, sanatoriums and bath houses. Her chapter on Siberia in particular offers a meticulous reportage tinged with poetry, in which almost every page radiates gem-like images and an impressive literary craft.... A magnificent achievement, in which Russia emerges as less a nation than a marvellous region of the mind.” —The Irish Times
Walking from the Harvard Square T station: 2 minutes
As you exit the station, reverse your direction and walk east along Mass. Ave. in front of the Cambridge Savings Bank. Cross Dunster St. and proceed along Mass. Ave for three more blocks. You will pass Au Bon Pain, JP Licks, and the Adidas Store. Harvard Book Store is located at the corner of Mass. Ave. and Plympton St.
(617) 661-1515
info@harvardsquarebookstore.com
Media Queries
(617) 661-1424 x1
rbcass@harvardsquarebookstore.com
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