{"product_id":"tribunal-vladimir-voinovich-9781839985447","title":"Tribunal: A Courtly Comedy in Three Acts","description":"\u003cp\u003eVladimir Voinovich's\u003cem\u003e Tribunal: A Courtly Comedy in Three Acts\u003c\/em\u003e is a wildly satiric send-up of the 1960s\/1970s Soviet show-trials by one of the most famous Soviet dissidents, who was also sometimes called 20th Century Russia's 'greatest living satirist.' Based upon his reaction to the Sinyavski\/Daniel trial in 1966, which caused him to begin to write scathingly critical letters to Premier Leonid Brezhnev and the Soviet Writer's Union and finally resulted in his expulsion from the Soviet Union in 1981, Voinovich's \u003cem\u003eTribunal\u003c\/em\u003e is a monument to the Soviet dissidents of the Cold War period and a sardonic critique of the censorship and persecution of dissident writers everywhere. Following in the classical tradition of the theatre of the absurd that stretches from Aristophanes to Sartre, Frisch, and Havel, Voinovich's comedy describes the black humoresque high jinks and wildly outrageous shenanigans that dizzily unfold when an unsuspecting couple of Soviet citizens, \u003cem\u003eSenya \u003c\/em\u003eand\u003cem\u003e Larissa Suspectnikoff\u003c\/em\u003e, clutching their free tickets in their innocent hands, walk into a crowded theatre, expecting to watch a Chekhovian comedy, only to become caught up in the sinister machinations of this Soviet criminal tribunal and its madcap version of the Moscow show trials. \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhen \u003cem\u003eThe Suspectnikoffs\u003c\/em\u003e arrive at the theater, they are surprised to find that the stage-sets for this curious theatrical production strangely resemble the precincts of a Soviet criminal justice tribunal, complete with tables and benches for \u003cem\u003eThe Prosecutor\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Public Defender\u003c\/em\u003e and a wild beast-cage for \u003cem\u003eThe Defendant\u003c\/em\u003e. There is also a Greek statue of \u003cem\u003eThe Goddess of Justice, Themis\u003c\/em\u003e, who holds in her outstretched hand the wavering scales of Soviet justice, with on one pan, a hammer-\u0026amp;-sickle, and on the other, a Kalashnikoff. After a few uneasy moments while the stagehands put the props in place, \u003cem\u003eThe Bard\u003c\/em\u003e strolls on stage and strums a few tunes on his guitar, in the futile attempt to set the audience at ease. But from outside the theater come the frightening sounds of screaming police-sirens and the flashing red-and-blue lights of an automobile cortege rushing past at great speeds; and when the hysterical rush of the speeding automobiles has passed, \u003cem\u003eThe Tribunal Members\u003c\/em\u003e (\u003cem\u003eThe Chairman, The Secretary, \u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Prosecutor\u003c\/em\u003e, et al.\u003cstrong\u003e) \u003c\/strong\u003eappear from the wings, strutting onstage in a burlesque chorus-line to the accompaniment of thunderous canned applause. And after this chorus-line of Communist Party bureaucrats has taken their places in the theater, the spectators are chilled to watch as black-clad security-police with submachine-guns appear at the theater-doors, blocking all the exits; and they discover, to their dismay, that they have become the captive audience in a mock-up version of a Stalinist show-trial. And so the third wall falls on this courtly theater, blurring the distinction between fiction and fact, falsehood and truth, nightmare and reality, as Voinovich describes the plight of Soviet citizens held hostage in the strange atmosphere of delirium and unreality that was characteristic of the declining and falling Soviet Union during stagnant chill of the 1970s Brezhnev years.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e After a few more uneasy moments, \u003cem\u003eLarissa\u003c\/em\u003e stands up and whispers: \"Senya, I don't understand what's going on here! Why are there so many people with guns?\" To which \u003cem\u003eSenya\u003c\/em\u003e replies: \"Oh, calm down, Lara! Why are you so nervous? It's just a show!\" \u003cem\u003eThe Suspectnikoffs\u003c\/em\u003e do not realize that by questioning this sinister tribunal, they are destined to become the defendants in a Soviet show-trial. But the show-trial must go on! And as \u003cem\u003eThe Chairman\u003c\/em\u003e says, \"Where there's a show-trial, you know, we need somebody to try!\" Senya protests his innocence and attempts to get away. But protestations of innocence have no bearing on these proceedings. And by the end of \u003cem\u003eAct I Scene 1\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eSenya\u003c\/em\u003e has been arrested and placed in the defendant's cage, while his faithful wife, \u003cem\u003eLarissa, \u003c\/em\u003e still stands behind her man, pleading for his release without quite believing in either his guilt or his innocence. And so Vladimir Voinovich's \u003cem\u003eTribunal: A Courtly Comedy in Three Acts\u003c\/em\u003e also goes on, wavering dizzily between the extremes of sardonic comic bathos and seriocomic tragedy, until \u003cem\u003eSuspectnikoff\u003c\/em\u003e finally becomes a world-famous dissident, calling upon the world's leaders of to rise to his defense and inspiring protest movements in the Western democracies. But is \u003cem\u003eSuspectnikoff\u003c\/em\u003e to be admired for his heroic posturing? Or has he simply submitted to the pressures of the Western media to play the stereotyped role of \u003cem\u003eThe Soviet Dissident\u003c\/em\u003e, who then becomes a pawn in the sinister spy-games of the Cold War superpower standoff between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R? The staggering climax of this absurdist melodrama leaves these difficult questions suspended in doubt as \u003cem\u003eSuspectnikoff\u003c\/em\u003e is dragged offstage and the stage-curtain falls on the whole cast of characters and the no-longer-innocent spectators of \u003cem\u003eTribunal: A Courtly Comedy in Three Acts\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Vladimir Voinovich\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1839985445\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781839985447\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Anthem Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/05\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 132\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.45lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.31d","brand":"Vladimir Voinovich","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44059226636543,"sku":"9781839985447","price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_287676ee-5db2-43e1-acaf-1b20e86bfed3.jpg?v=1685056961","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/tribunal-vladimir-voinovich-9781839985447","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}