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Never Out of Reach
Eugene Dubnov
€ 169.64
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Description for Never Out of Reach
Hardcover. Num Pages: 300 pages. BIC Classification: BGLA; BM. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 234 x 156. .
This memoir, a young poet’s tragicomic account of crossed loves and rebellions as he grows from boy to man under the vigilant eyes of the state in the Soviet Union between the 1950s and 1970s, can be approached as a bildungsroman. It is set in Tallinn, Riga and Moscow (with episodes in Uzbekistan, Moldavia, and the Ukraine) and, apart from this author’s own story, deals with the experiences of young people of that period, their friendships and attempts to form erotic/romantic attachments, as well as their search for national—Baltic, Jewish, Russian—identity while being watched and sometimes interrogated by the secret police. It also includes some reconstruction of the author’s family history: expulsion from Spain, the Magician of Prague, the renowned historian Simon Dubnov. The volume progresses from the demonstration of two seven-year-old boys’ against Stalin and Lenin, in Tallinn, in the mid-1950s to a dramatic and doomed love affair with a woman married to an army colonel who attempts to shoot the author as the latter is about to make his final exit from the country, with the KGB on his tail, in the early 1970s. While raising a number of important historical and contemporary issues, the memoir is also an involving narrative, a visually descriptive story, varied and engrossing, involving philosophical, theological, and detective elements; popular and literary culture; countries and languages; high seriousness and undercutting irony.
Product Details
Format
Hardback
Publication date
2016
Publisher
Liverpool University Press United Kingdom
Number of pages
300
Condition
New
Number of Pages
300
Place of Publication
Liverpool, United Kingdom
ISBN
9780990895893
SKU
V9780990895893
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 7 to 11 working days
Ref
99-50
About Eugene Dubnov
Eugene Dubnov was born in Tallinn, grew up in Riga and was educated at Moscow and London Universities. He taught English, American, and Russian Literature in the UK and Israel and was Writer in Residence at Carmel College, Oxfordshire (1985 - 87) and a Wingate Scholar in London (1990 - 92). He is the author of two collections of poetry and his poems and short stories have appeared worldwide in English translation. He has also contributed short stories for broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
Reviews for Never Out of Reach
Review of Dubnov's writing: As if Imperial Easter eggs had been outfitted with lasers and microchips, Eugene Dubnov writes modern prose in the grand old Russian tradition; and, following in the footsteps of Nabokov, does it in English. These pages are haunted by Sigmund Freud and by the lingering presences of recent history.
Tom Robbins (author of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues) Review of Dubnov's writing: Impressions arising when reading these poems are of a concentrated in one gust burning passion for freedom characteristic of thinking individuals of the author's generation. Thousands of times sold, betrayed and compromised, the word "freedom" comes in these poems to life and fills up with its true, irresistible content. These poems were written in Soviet Russia where, in their author's words, "There's a heavy price that must be paid / For the ability to leave the ground." The New Russian Word (New York) Review of Dubnov's writing: An original talent... a combination of hypnotic melody with polished mastery of form. [...] It is...clear that he is an heir to Mandelstam (and to Joseph Brodsky, as well), but his is an original voice, moulding the Russian language with finesse and sensitivity.
Prof. Donald Rayfield, University of London Books in Russian Review of Dubnov's writing: Rich in texture, poignant, subtle, and beautifully made poems... At home in several cultures, Dubnov is a true original.
X.J. Kennedy Review of Dubnov's writing: A real gift.
Professor John Bayley, Oxford Review of Dubnov's writing: Resonance of great Russian poetry of the past in a uniquely original voice.
Professor Sir Dmitry Obolensky, Oxford Review of Dubnov's writing: A significant... interesting and resourceful poet.
Professor Gerald Smith, Chair of Russian Scottish Slavonic Review Review of Dubnov's writing: Eugene Dubnov's poetry is remarkable for its tight structure and dense, complex texture.
W.D. Snodgrass Review of Dubnov's writing: A real journey of the spirit; body of work that advances steadily in accomplishment... The author shows intimate and assured way with language which responds happily to his touch...he has learned from Pasternak and Mandelstam, yet develops his own voice.
Professor Henry Gifford Review of Dubnov's writing: Eugene Dubnov's writings are extensive and read world-wide, which is the best testimony of his powers and talents.
Arnold Wesker
Tom Robbins (author of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues) Review of Dubnov's writing: Impressions arising when reading these poems are of a concentrated in one gust burning passion for freedom characteristic of thinking individuals of the author's generation. Thousands of times sold, betrayed and compromised, the word "freedom" comes in these poems to life and fills up with its true, irresistible content. These poems were written in Soviet Russia where, in their author's words, "There's a heavy price that must be paid / For the ability to leave the ground." The New Russian Word (New York) Review of Dubnov's writing: An original talent... a combination of hypnotic melody with polished mastery of form. [...] It is...clear that he is an heir to Mandelstam (and to Joseph Brodsky, as well), but his is an original voice, moulding the Russian language with finesse and sensitivity.
Prof. Donald Rayfield, University of London Books in Russian Review of Dubnov's writing: Rich in texture, poignant, subtle, and beautifully made poems... At home in several cultures, Dubnov is a true original.
X.J. Kennedy Review of Dubnov's writing: A real gift.
Professor John Bayley, Oxford Review of Dubnov's writing: Resonance of great Russian poetry of the past in a uniquely original voice.
Professor Sir Dmitry Obolensky, Oxford Review of Dubnov's writing: A significant... interesting and resourceful poet.
Professor Gerald Smith, Chair of Russian Scottish Slavonic Review Review of Dubnov's writing: Eugene Dubnov's poetry is remarkable for its tight structure and dense, complex texture.
W.D. Snodgrass Review of Dubnov's writing: A real journey of the spirit; body of work that advances steadily in accomplishment... The author shows intimate and assured way with language which responds happily to his touch...he has learned from Pasternak and Mandelstam, yet develops his own voice.
Professor Henry Gifford Review of Dubnov's writing: Eugene Dubnov's writings are extensive and read world-wide, which is the best testimony of his powers and talents.
Arnold Wesker