Before Brezhnev Died (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781628973495)

The time is the twilight of the decrepit Brezhnev regime, the place, the Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldavia: the "Latin periphery of empire." A pensioner seeks justice for his dead wife, crushed by a falling crane--the very symbol of the "construction of socialism"--but comes up against hostility from a cynical system at best indifferent, at worst contemptuous of human life. With a keen, Gogolian eye for the grotesque, often squalid, details of everyday life in the USSR, Iulian Ciocan paints darkly humorous but compassionate portraits of Homo sovieticus, from crusty war veterans and lowly collective farm workers to venal Party bigwigs, as each comes to the disturbing realization that the lofty ideals of Soviet society were lies all along. And for idealistic young pioneer Iulian, the biggest disillusionment of all will be the abrupt revelation of Brezhnev's mortality.

Author: Iulian Ciocan
ISBN-10: 1628973498
ISBN-13: 9781628973495
Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press
Language: English
Published: 05/12/2020
Pages: 176
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.50lbs
Size: 7.90h x 5.50w x 0.70d