MOLOTOV’S MAGIC LANTERN: A JOURNEY IN RUSSIAN HISTORY
Book ID/图书代码： 04560007B13525
English Summary/英文概要： Whilst living in Moscow, Rachel Polonsky found an apartment block in Romanov Street, once a residence of the Soviet elite. One of its previous inhabitants was Stalin’s henchman Vyacheslav Molotov, and in his former apartment Rachel Polonsky discovered his library and an old magic lantern. This ruthless apparatchik, participant in the collectivizations and the Great Purge, was also an ardent bibliophile.
The library and magic lantern became the prisms through which Rachel Polonsky renewed her vision of Russia. She travelled to cities and landscapes associated with the books in the library – Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Pushkin, Akhmatova. Many of the authors included had in fact been sent to the Gulag by the man collecting their works.
In this outstanding book, Polonsky describes the longings and aspirations of Russian writers, in the course of a journey that takes her to the Arctic and Siberia, the Crimean summer and Lake Baikal, from the forests around Moscow to the vast steppes. In each place she encounters the spirit of great artists and the terrible past of a country ravaged by war, famine, and totalitarianism.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 作者波蘭斯基住在莫斯科的時候，意外在Romanov街上找到一間舊公寓，前任的房客竟是史達林的親密戰友和堅定的支持者莫托洛夫〈Vyacheslav Molotov〉。
註:
Vyacheslav Molotov（1890年—1986年），蘇聯著名革命家、政治家、外交家、蘇聯人民委員會主席（總理）（1930年-1941年）。
莫洛托夫在列寧時期就是蘇共中央委員。他是史達林的親密戰友和堅定的支持者，成為史達林領導班子的二號人物，支持史達林的集體化政策並參與領導了大清洗。 1941年任蘇聯外交人民委員（外交部長），是史達林國際談判的主要代言人和顧問，曾多次冒著生命危險飛越敵戰區上空與西方領導人斡旋。他善於使用外交手段維護蘇聯的利益，能言善辯，被譽為外交天才，儘管史達林對他並不完全信任，他的妻子也遭到史達林的迫害，但他至始至終都在堅定的支持史達林，在史達林去世後繼續擔任外交部長。由於對蘇共二十大的反史達林政策有不同的意見而於1957年被打為「反黨集團」頭目，被降為駐蒙古大使，1964年被開除黨籍，勒令退休。但他始終為史達林奔走。80年代中期，他與蘇聯著名詩人丘耶夫結為好友，在丘耶夫與他進行的139次談話中對史達林給予了高度評價。1984年被 恢復黨籍，1986年去世。他是列寧的戰友中少數幾個活到20世紀80年代的。
在這間公寓中，波蘭斯基找到莫托洛夫的圖書館和一個舊燈籠。原來支持史達林的集體化政策並參與領導大清洗的莫托洛夫竟是ㄧ個書癡…有趣的是，莫托洛夫這些藏書中的許多作家事實上都曾被他送進古拉格(前蘇聯的勞改營、集中營)。
這間圖書館與神奇的燈籠讓波蘭斯基開始遊走圖書館藏書中，包含契珂夫、杜思妥也夫斯基、普希金等偉大俄國作家作品中提及的城市。追尋俄國作家的腳步，她的足跡遍至北極、西伯利亞、克里米亞、貝加爾湖，從莫斯科周邊的森林到廣闊的俄羅斯大草原。
在每個所到之處，波蘭斯基目睹了俄國偉大藝術家的奮鬥精神，以及這個飽受戰爭、飢荒與極權主義蹂躏的國家的可怕過去。
這段旅程開啟了波蘭斯基對俄羅斯這個神祕北方國家的另ㄧ道目光…，她迷人的敘事節奏，使本書成為一本完美揉合文學批評、政治歷史、傳記、旅遊文學的精采作品，也是Faber and Faber 今年重點力推的書目。(KC)
Awards/获奖情况：☆ Faber and Faber 今年焦點新書
“I know we have already told you how excited we are about this book in-house; it’s a work that really deserves publishers worldwide.”
☆ 完美揉合文學批評、政治歷史、傳記、旅遊書寫的精采作品，讀來令人不忍釋卷─Robert MacFarlene衛報首部作品獎（The Guardian First Book Award）得主
Literary criticism, political history, biography, travel-writing, the memoir of a decade in...they all twine with one another here, and the twining is always beautifully done
版權已售：美國、希臘、義大利和荷蘭
US（Farrar Straus and Ggiroux）, Greece (Modern Times), Italy (Adelphi), and the Netherlands (Nieuw Amsterdam)
Robert MacFarlene衛報首部作品獎（The Guardian First Book Award）得主：
即便對俄國歷史、文化一點興趣都沒的讀者，也會深深受到這本書的吸引…
我喜歡閱讀這本書的過程中，在腦中緩緩浮現的俄國影像，以及這本書獨特迷人的敘事節奏…
註:MacFarlene以融合回憶錄和散文寫作手法的《心靈山脈》（Mountains of the Mind）奪得衛報首部作品獎（The Guardian First Book Award），打敗呼聲最高的角逐者包括Monica Ali備受矚目的小說brick lane《紅磚路》、DBC皮爾摘下曼布克獎的小說《維農少年》，以及安娜‧芳德（Anna Funder）的報導文學《警察帝國》（Stasiland），探討東德時代秘密警察的運作和影響
’[O]ne doesn’t need to be a Russianist, or even to have any pre-existing strong interest in Russia, to recognise this book as a quite brilliant work - or to be compelled by it...
I loved the images that emerge over the book’s course, and the kinds of narrative movement that Rachel practises: navigation through Russian history by happenstance, rhyme, and analogy, and by the narrow corridors and secret passageways of literature. There is a simple metaphor by which one can understand the book: that of the magic lantern, with each chapter a new slide wobbled into the projector....
Literary criticism, political history, biography, travel-writing, the memoir of a decade in...they all twine with one another here, and the twining is always beautifully done.... It’s been a privilege to read the book. I hope it wins the prizes it deserves to win.’
About the Author/作者介绍： Rachel Polonsky is a writer and independent scholar. She specializes in cultural history and contemporary politics. She is the author of English Literature and the Russian Aesthetic Renaissance (CUP, 1998). Her translations have appeared in Soviet Literature, Granta, Glas, and at the Royal Court Theatre in London.
Format:HARDCOVER
Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE(到期可授)
Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE
Sales in other countries/其他国家销售情况：
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