Soldier Nixon

Having sailed through 'One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich' I thought I'd tackle my othe cheap second hand Solzhenitsyn paperback. Pity I didn't see the little number 3 on the cover. So, before I dived in I thought I'd do the right thing and get Parts 1 & 2 (Mind you, knowing it's a three part saga doesn't overly inspire me). In a parochial town on the east coast of Queensland that's not as easy as you might imagine or hope. Let's face it, Russia and its culture doesn't exactly rank high on the list of average Queenslander's interests (i.e it's well down on the list after fishing and footy and drinking, somewhere down towards the bottom, near reading and second language acquisition, only lower).

So I asked the old half-deaf biddy in the second hand bookshop if she had any books by Solzhenitsyn.
"Soldier Nixon, I don't think so. Are they crime or thrillers or what ?"
Brushing aside the concept that Stalinist era oppression might have been a crime against humanity, I said,"No, SOLZHENITSYN".
"Oh, Soldier Nitsyn ! No I don't think we've got any. How do you spell that ?"
At which point I pretty much gave in.

To most Aussies, Russia is that big place up there that used to sort of be the enemy, but isn't anymore. You know, where they had the siege in that school. It's almost completely off the radar outside of a handful of Russian Departments at one or two Unis. Even at the height of the cold war it probably never had the same 'traditional foe' status as it would have had in the US or in Europe. It was just that big place up there where they did a bit of Cossack dancing and ballet and had spies. Against that depressing background it's probably not surprising that the old chook (Aussie slang for chicken) in the bookshop didn't know who Solzhenitsyn was.

In the front of Gulag Archipelago, Pt 3 is a witty dedication from whoever bought it and originally left it at the fruit picker's hostel for others to read:

"To you, and all that live in picker's quarters. If it helps. There's always someone worse off than you".

Comments

[Елизавета]

LOL! Love the book dedication.

About Russia and its culture being a non-existent priority in the US... my husband tells me that I shouldn't tell people I am learning Russian because they will think I am a Stalinist.

[IanH]

Lots of people at work already think I'm a bit strange; don't like football, fishing etc and learning foreign languages in my spare time. More anti-social then socialist I guess !

[Otto Pohl]

I have a post up on the Russian community of Brisbane before 1920. It deals mainly with their political activities. Given the importance of such events as the Merivale riots, I would think it would be taught in QLD schools.