Bolshevism as saga
Yuri Slezkine takes a literary approach
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Yuri Slezkine has produced a monumental work that is impressive in its detail. “The House of Government” is based on the premise that the story of the house that has already gained literary fame through Yuri Trifonov’s novel, “The House on the Embankment”, reflects the fates of an entire epoch. Slezkine regards Bolshevism and the individuals in the ruling elite who made it such a powerful force as being a millenary movement. However, Slezkine’s concept of recounting history as a saga fails to convince.
(Osteuropa 6/2018, pp. 135–142)