A Russian writer

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32589, 24 April 1971, Page 10

A Russian writer

This is Moscow Speaking and Other Stories By Yuri Daniel. With a Foreword by Max Hayward. Coilins and Harvill. 159 pp. When Yuri Daniel failed to gain recognition as a writer in his own country, he sent four short stories abroad for publication and it is these which appear in this volume. Published under a pseudonym, "Arzhak,” the work achieved some literary acclamation overseas, but die Soviet Union’s reaction was to arrest Yuri Daniel. His trial and subsequent condemnation to five years hard labour caused considerable controversy both in and out of the Soviet Union.

Yuri Daniel is an explicitly political writer. His intent is not to slander but simply to voice concern that the past should not be repeated. This is the main intent of “This is Moscow Speaking,” which is the main story in the volume. Daniel says that in 1960-61, when he wrote the story, he felt that there was danger of a revival of Stalinism. “This is Moscow Speaking” tells of a Public Murder Day in Moscow, when people could kill almost whom they pleased. The results of such a ridiculous-sounding constitutional edict were surprising. The story is haunted by the idea that the successful application of mass terror requires certain complicity on the part of the victims.

“Atonement” is an essay which purports to be hard on the “liberal intelligensia” for their complacency about what happened under Stalin. The hero of the story is driven mad because, not having been in a concentration camp himself, he is suspected of having informed on others. A belief that every member of society is responsible for that society’s actions pervades the story. “Hands” is Yuri Daniel’s shortest and probably his best essay. The anti-hero, who is the member of a firing squad, serves to develop the theme of terror and its moral consequences. “The Man from MINAP” follows a humorous vein, unlike the other stories. Not only does it satirise scientific charlatinism which apparently flourished under Stalin, but it also pokes harmless fun at Karl Marx. Each story is extremely well thought out and developed. It is good to be able to read a Russian author who has not been spoiled by a Western influence.