The Green Lantern: A Romance of Stalinist Russia
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Book Overview
Jerome Charyn is known for his paeans to the workingman. Here is another work in that tradition, about a simple prop manager who finds himself unexpectedly--and literally--pushed into the spotlight, and a player in world history. When Ivan Azerbaijan, known as Ivanushka, first set out for Moscow, he hoped for nothing more than to build sets for his mentor's production of King Lear. But when the lead falls suddenly ill, Ivanushka steps in and finds his performance the talk of Moscow. He falls under the scrutiny of Joseph Stalin, who allows starlet Valentina Michaelson to join the cast as Cordelia. Ivanushka is thrust headlong into the world of intrigue, terror, and distrust that was Stalin's Soviet Union. Charyn depicts both the romance between Valentina and Ivan and the chaos of life under Stalin's watchful eyes with similar style, making the fear and confusion palpable in this audacious winter's tale. The Green Lantern is an exploration of Shakespeare, the Soviet Union, and what it is to "perform," by one of the great American writers.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:1560257954
ISBN13:9781560257950
Release Date:October 2005
Publisher:Thunder's Mouth Press
Length:357 Pages
Weight:0.75 lbs.
Dimensions:1.0" x 5.7" x 8.0"
Customer Reviews
1 rating
One of the best historical novels I've read
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 19 years ago
I can't disagree more with the Washington Post review. I started reading it because I had nothing else better to do and then suddenly I was transported into Stalinist era of the 1930s. I feel I need to find out what I can about this author who has achieved something close to witchcraft by re-creating the psychological (un)reality of that era. I almost laughed when I read the reviewer's complaints about how the details don't add to the intrigue/suspense. There is NO suspense; only the utter illogic of possible imminent violent end to one's life for no reason which IS the definition of the Stalinist era. How this guy called Jerome Charyn about whom I know nothing accomplish this in a rather slim book much better than all the volumes of Solzhenitsyn who was actually there, I have no idea. Fatma Isikdag
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