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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A literary snapshot of East Germany after Stalin
This novel is set in 1956, the start of destalinization, which began with Nikita Khrushchev's secret speech at the 20th party congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The book is about the incomplete destalinization process in East Germany. Other themes include the perniciousness of the informer system under Stalinism and the betrayal of own's own artistic...
Published on July 5, 2009 by Yaakov Ben Shalom
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0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A dud from a famous writer
Stefan Heym tried to make a soap opera out of Nikita Khrushchev's secret speech to the Communist Party congress. Heym's method was to serve up a socialist collective of East German architects who were working on a Soviet-backed project called the World Peace Road. They talk a lot about Marxism Leninism and their collective, but suppress history. When one of their...
Published on October 22, 2007 by Stephen G. Esrati
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A literary snapshot of East Germany after Stalin,
This review is from: The Architects (European Classics) (Paperback)
This novel is set in 1956, the start of destalinization, which began with Nikita Khrushchev's secret speech at the 20th party congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The book is about the incomplete destalinization process in East Germany. Other themes include the perniciousness of the informer system under Stalinism and the betrayal of own's own artistic principles for careerist success.
It is a great snapshot of a moment in German history. For those who are interested in literary representations of East German history, I would highly recommend this book. Additionally, this book can be quite the page turner at times, even if it is overwritten. (The political discussions can be a bit much, but they, too, are part of the story. And some of the characters are loathsome, including the main character, or annoying, including his five-year-old son.) The translation is not so great. Sometimes it is very good, but many times it's not. (For more information on the translation, see my additional comment.) The book also contains some anachronisms, such as mentioning the Lipsi dance, which was only introduced in 1959. Despite these problems, this book is definitely worth reading.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A dud from a famous writer,
By
This review is from: The Architects (European Classics) (Paperback)
Stefan Heym tried to make a soap opera out of Nikita Khrushchev's secret speech to the Communist Party congress. Heym's method was to serve up a socialist collective of East German architects who were working on a Soviet-backed project called the World Peace Road. They talk a lot about Marxism Leninism and their collective, but suppress history.
When one of their colleagues returns from 16 years in the Siberian gulag, the lead architect fears that he may spill the beans about an act of personal betrayal. There is an attempt to set up a love triangle and to stir jealousy and envy into the collective's pot. But it all falls flat. They talk too much. The child who keeps popping into the picture is a repulsive little idiot. (The road, by the way, is presumably in Potsdam, but Heym never says so. There is nothing like it in Potsdam.) |
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The Architects (European Classics) by Stefan Heym (Paperback - January 6, 2006)
$22.95
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