Volume 38, Number 15 · September 26, 1991
Cautionary Tales
By Gabriele Annan
The Tattered Cloak and Other Novels
by Nina Berberova, translated by Marian Schwartz
Knopf, 308 pp., $21.00
In 1969 Nina Berberova published the American translation of her autobiography, The Italics are Mine.[*] When Tatyana Tolstoya was interviewed about it the other day she said: 'I don't know her personally, but she is maybe the strongest personality I have ever felt in a book. This personality tries to convince me of the image she creates, but it doesn't. I feel she creates an image which is not truthful, and I recognize her right to do that. I feel she's quite different, a mysterious personality strong enough to create an image that works, but for me the real personality behind all that is much more interesting than the person she wants us to believe in.' Mystery and strength are alluring, so this admiring but subliminally catty response is more of a turn-on than any blurb could be.
Review, 3006 words
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