Volume 5, Number 7 · November 11, 1965
East Is East
By Al Alvarez
Petrovka 38
by Julian Semyonov, translated by Michael Scammel
Stein & Day, 205 pp., $4.95
Island of Salvation
by Wlodzimierz Odojewski, translated by David Welsh
Harcourt Brace & World, 248 pp., $4.75
A Sitter for a Satyr
by George Andrzeyevski, translated by Celina Wieniewska
Dutton, 190 pp., $3.95
Ward 7
by Valeriy Tarsis, translated by Katya Brown
Dutton, 159 pp., $3.50
The Ice Age
by Tamas Acezl
Simon & Schuster, 288 pp., $5.95
Postwar Polish Poetry
selected and translated by Czeslaw Milosz
Doubleday, 148 pp., $4.95
If there is one quality which holds this collection of novels together it is, with one exception, a certain lack of distinction. In a way, it is consoling to know that the same old humdrum sensibilities tick away in fiction on either side of the iron curtain, that mediocrity in the East is essentially no different from mediocrity in the West, that things are as gloomy and evasions as commonplace there as here. The only miracle is that, judging from the blurbs and dust-jackets, these novels have been taken so seriously west of the border; I suppose it is a sign of the cultural détente.
Review, 1858 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |