Iurii Trifonov Unity through Time

Iurii Trifonov (1925–81) has become well known in the West as a writer of Soviet urban life. This study, first published in 1993, concentrates on his exploration of major events in Russian history (such as the assassination of Tsar Alexander II and the Russian Civil War) and their implications and consequences for his time. David Gillespie traces this interest through all of Trifonov's writings, from his earliest, Stalin prize-winning period to the self-consciously modernist later works, in which Trifonov emphasizes the interconnectedness of human life and history, with the individual as 'the nerve' of history; linking epochs, places, civilizations. Trifonov discerns patterns and analogies in history, and develops a language of hints and allusions with which to combat the repressive censorship of his time.

Preface; Introduction; 1. From Moscow students to the Turkmenian desert (Studenty; Utolenie zhazhdy); 2. Moscow life, 1966–75 (Obmen; Predvaritel' nye itogi; Beskonechnye igry; Dolgoe proshchanie; Drugaia zhizn'); 3. The house on the embankment (Dom na naberezhnoi); 4. Terrorism, civil war and the present (Neterpenie; Otblesk kostra; Starik); 5. Time and place (Vremia i mesto; Ischeznovenie); Conclusion: unity through dislocation (Oprokinuytyi dom); Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Iurii Trifonov (1925-81) has recently become well known in the West as a writer of Soviet urban life. This study concentrates on his exploration of major events in Russian history and their implications and consequences for his time.