I wasn’t going to write about the circus surrounding Arkady Babchenko’s “murder” and sudden resurrection, which continues to unfold, but I can’t stop myself. It’s just too fascinating, and as far as I can tell the Western press has already moved back to the latest absurdity produced by Trump. So here we go: A bombshell […]
Read more "Art and Dissidence in Eastern Europe: #ArkadyBabchenko and #FreeSentsov"Everyone Loses: The Ukraine Crisis and the Ruinous Contest for Post-Soviet Eurasia Samuel Charap and Timothy J. Colton When protest and then war broke out in 2013/14 in Ukraine, many people in the US couldn’t find Ukraine, much less the Crimea or the Donbass, on a map, and for most people that’s probably still the […]
Read more "“Everyone Loses” by Charap and Colton"In “Wolf Hunt,” the threads of village passions come together as a group sets off on a wolf hunt that serves as a pretext for something even more murderous. Living side-by-side for decades, right through the upheavals of WWII and forced collectivization, has inflamed resentments rather than drawing people together, leading to a violent denouement. […]
Read more "“Wolf Hunt” by Ivailo Petrov"“Matylda” is the story of a wide-eyed Czech boy who spends the summer of 1998 on a work exchange in the US. Intertwined with his impressions of American food (too sugary), American cops (constantly keeping an eye on him), and American shopping (amazing, but out of his price range), are the stories of his parents […]
Read more "“Matylda: And I Thought Everyone Drives a Limo in Amerika” by Filip Zachoval"
E. P. Clark: Author, Book Reviewer, and All-Around Literary Handiwoman 