The Commissariat of Enlightenment: A Novel

Authors: Kalfus, Ken
Publisher: HarperCollins e-books
BISAC/Subject: FIC000000
ISBN: 9780061855948, Related ISBNs: 0061855944, 9780060501396, 9780061855948
Classification: Non-Fiction
Number of pages: 304,
Audience: General/trade
Synopsis:

Russia, 1910. Leo Tolstoy lies dying in Astapovo, a remote railway station. Members of the press from around the world have descended upon this sleepy hamlet to record his passing for a public suddenly ravenous for celebrity news. They have been joined by a film company whose cinematographer, Nikolai Gribshin, is capturing the extraordinary scene and learning how to wield his camera as a political tool. At this historic moment he comes across two men -- the scientist, Professor Vorobev, and the revolutionist, Joseph Stalin -- who have radical, mysterious plans for the future. Soon they will accompany him on a long, cold march through an era of brutality and absurdity. The Commissariat of Enlightenment is a mesmerizing novel of ideas that brilliantly links the tragedy and comedy of the Russian Revolution with the global empire of images that occupies our imaginations today.

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