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A dictator calls

£9.99

‘A Dictator Calls’ is inspired by three minutes in June 1934 when Joseph Stalin allegedly telephoned Boris Pasternak. A gripping meditation on Soviet Russia, authoritarianism and literature, featuring a host of fascinating writers and historical figures.

In stock

Description

**Longlisted for the International Booker Prize**

‘Comrade Stalin wishes to speak with you.

A fascinating exploration of the relationship between writers and tyranny, from the winner of the first Man Booker International Prize.

In June 1934, Joseph Stalin allegedly telephoned the famous novelist and poet Boris Pasternak to discuss the arrest of fellow Soviet poet Osip Mandelstam. In a fascinating combination of dreams and dossier facts, Ismail Kadare reconstructs the three minutes they spoke and the aftershocks of this tense, mysterious moment in modern history.

Weaving together the accounts of witnesses, reporters and writers such as Isaiah Berlin and Anna Akhmatova, Kadare tells a gripping story of power and political structures, of the relationship between writers and tyranny. The telling brings to light uncanny parallels with Kadare’s experience writing under dictatorship, when he received an unexpected phone call of his own.

Translated from the Albanian by John Hodgson

‘Kadare is one of Europe’s most consistently interesting and powerful contemporary novelists, a writer whose stark, memorable prose imprints itself on the reader’s consciousness.Los Angeles Times

Read a sample here

Additional information

Weight 0.162 kg
Dimensions 19.7 × 12.9 × 1.5 cm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

240

Language

English

Edition

1st paperback ed

Dewey

891.9913 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K