Reflections on the Russian Soul: A Memoir

by Dmitry S. Likhachev, Bernard Adams (Translator)

Overview

This compelling and often traumatic book is the memoir of one of the most important figures in modern Russian history, Dmitry S. Likhachev, revered as ‘a guardian of national culture’. Reflections on the Russian Soul is an incredible account of an intellectual’s turbulent journey through twentieth century Russia. Likhachev re-counts the fortunes of people with whom he came into contact and reproduces the air of passed years in Russia.

 

Likhachev vividly portrays his childhood years in St. Petersburg and continues into his student life at Leningrad University that led to an agonizing period of imprisonment and near death. He describes how a harmless prank caught the attention of the Secret Police, resulting in his exile and confinement within the infamous prison island of Solovki. He describes his first-hand experience of brutality in prison during the early Stalin years and the incident that not only saved him but also haunted him for the rest of his life.

 

He reflects on the years after his release from prison and the events leading up to the Second World War. His powerful recollection of the blockade of Leningrad provides the reader with a horrific insight into the harsh effects of war, hunger and survival. Lichachev goes on to describe post-war Russia and how his own livelihood developed from literary editor to a return to Leningrad University as Professor of History. This compelling autobiography finishes with Likhachev’s poignant return to Solovki as a free man.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789639116467
Publisher:	Central European University Press
Publication date:	05/01/2000
Edition description:	New Edition Large Print
Pages:	350
Product dimensions:	6.26(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Dmitry S. Likhachev was one of Russia’s most famous literary historians and cultural commentators. In the late 1980’s Mikhail Gorbachev enlisted him as Chairman of the Soviet Cultural Fund. In 1998 he was the first person since 1917 to be presented with the order of St. Andrew. He was made corresponding member of the Austrian, American, British and Italian academies of arts and sciences.

Table of Contents

The Last of the Russian Intelligentsia (Miklós Kun)

Foreword to the Russian Edition

Foreword to the English Edition

The House of Likhachev

The Children of M.M. Likhachev

My Childhood

The Disappearance of Katerinushka

The Petersburg of my Childhood

Kuokkala

The Crimea

A Volga Cruise, 1914

The Philanthropic Society Grammar School

K.I. May's Grammar School and Modern School

The Revolution—Outward Impressions

Life in No.1 State Printing-house

Taytsy, Olgino, Toksovo

The Lentovskaya School

Leonid Vladimirovich Georg

The University

The Red Terror

The Making of a Philosophy

S.A. Alekseyev-Askoldov

Khelfernak

The Brotherhood of St Serafim of Sarov

The Cosmic Academy of Sciences

Arrest and Imprisonment

Kem Transfer Point and the Crossing to Solovki Island

The Camp Topography of Solovki

The Scenery of Solovki

Krimkab

The Diagonal of a Child's Blanket

The Visit by Maksim Gorki and the Mass Executions of 1929

The Solovki Museum

The Solovki Theatre

Solovki People

A Few Fragments

Leaving Solovki

Zvanka and Tikhvin. Release

The Fate of My Friends after Solovki

The Repression of the '30s

The Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR

Attempts at Writing

My Conviction Quashed

I Fail the Exams

I Leave the Academy of Sciences Press

Novgorod

The Blockade

Two Letters about the Blockade of Leningrad

Prorabotki

A Trip to Solovki in 1996

My last time on Solovki

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Protector of Russia's Heritage. Dmitri S. Likhachev, a Russian literary scholar revered as a guardian of national culture and a voice of reason and moral authority died today in hospital in St PetersburgDuring the past decade of turbulent change in Russia, Mr Likhachev, a gentle elegant man who spoke with the measured eloquence of the pre-Bolshevik intelligentsia, was frequently sought out by politicians and commentators as a referee in the churning debate over history"—The New York Times Obituaries

Editorial Reviews

"Protector of Russia’s Heritage. Dmitri S. Likhachev, a Russian literary scholar revered as a guardian of national culture and a voice of reason and moral authority died today in hospital in St Petersburg…During the past decade of turbulent change in Russia, Mr Likhachev, a gentle elegant man who spoke with the measured eloquence of the pre-Bolshevik intelligentsia, was frequently sought out by politicians and commentators as a referee in the churning debate over history…"—The New York Times Obituaries

From the Publisher

A memoir by one of the most important literary historians and cultural commentators in modern Russian history, Dmitry S. Likhachev, who died in late 1999. Likhachev portrays his life from his childhood years in St. Petersburg and the experiences at Leningrad University which led to his imprisonment to his later years in post-war Russia and his eventual return visit to the infamous Solovki, where he was brutally imprisoned during the early Stalin years. First published in Russian by Logos, St. Petersburg, 1995. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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