Angels on the Head of a Pin
A Novel
- Publisher
- Peter Owen Publishers
- Initial publish date
- Feb 2003
- Category
- Political, Classics, Espionage
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9780720611700
- Publish Date
- Feb 2003
- List Price
- $30.95
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9780720616057
- Publish Date
- Feb 2003
- List Price
- $11.99
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Description
In this contemporary Russian classic, a samizdat document arrives at a Soviet newspaper headquarters with unimaginable consequences.
Angels on the Head of a Pin is set in Moscow in the late 1960s, at a time when Khrushchev-era liberalization is being threatened by the return to personality cult and repression following the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia. The editor-in-chief of the organ of the Communist Party collapses with a heart attack outside the Central Committee building. This is partly brought on by the appearance of a samizdat manuscript on his desk that leads to his anguishing over who left it there and what to do with it to avoid falling victim to the malevolence its content is likely to unleash. The solution lies with Yakov Rappoport, an ageing and cynical Jewish veteran of the war and two spells in the Gulag, the author of not only the obnoxious popular campaigns sponsored by the newspaper (and all its letters to the editor) but of every speech that gets made in public by the principals of the regime as well. His efforts to help his stricken editor, as well as the novel's star-crossed lovers, lead to a hallucinatory climax.
About the authors
Yuri Druzhnikov's profile page
Thomas Moore is an author, psychotherapist, musician and religious philosopher who lectures and writes in the areas of archetypal psychology, mythology, spiritual ecology and the arts. He consults for medical schools and hospitals. Thomas Moore has written many books and articles in the areas of archetypal and Jungian psychology, religion, mythology, relationships, and the arts. His best-sellers Care of the Soul, Soul Mates, and The Re-enchantment of Everyday Life, have inspired many around the globe. He has practiced psychotherapy for over 20 years and is a Relationships columnist for Beliefnet.com. Moore lived as a monk in a Catholic order for 12 years. He holds a Ph.D. in religious studies from Syracuse University.
Editorial Reviews
"I congratulate Yuri Druzhnikov on an excellent and very important book. This is the way, gradually, that at least most Soviet lies will be revealed, if not all of them." —Alexander Solzhenitsyn
"Combines a sense of humour with a fantastic ability to write between the lines." —Isaac Bashevis Singer
"Ambitious epic satire . . . Employing the newspaper in much the same way that Solzhenitsyn used a hospital as a metaphor in Cancer Ward, Druzhnikov captures the essence of Russian life before the collapse of Communism." —Publishers Weekly
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