Fear of Mirrors (Seagull Books - Seagull World Literature) [Hardcover]

Tariq AlI (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 190649715X | ISBN-13: 978-1906497156 | Publication Date: May 12, 2009

In this novel from esteemed political writer Tariq Ali, a father, Vlady, loses his job when he refuses to renounce socialist beliefs in the newly unified Germany—and as a result wants to explain to his alienated son what their family’s long and passionate involvement with communism has really meant. The story he tells is of Ludwik, a Polish secret agent and Gertrude, Vlady’s mother, whose desire for Ludwik is matched only by her devotion to the communist ideal. As the plot unfolds through the political upheavals of the twentieth century, Vlady describes the hopes aroused by the Bolshevik revolution and discovers the almost unbearable truth about the family’s betrayal. Written with deep political insight and sensitivity, Fear of Mirrors relates the extraordinary history of Central Europe from the perspective of those on the other side of the cold war.

“Ali folds his drama around the tight, cultlike atmosphere of Communist Party life, peopled by idealists who find their lives encumbered by betrayals, power grabs, and corruption and who, in the post-Communist era, must come to terms with their complicity with Stalinism. . . . This is a valuable book, especially for those interested in the current thinking of the European left.”—Publishers Weekly, on the first edition

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Germany may be reunified, but the life of former East German dissident Vladimir Meyer has fallen apart. His wife has deserted him. He has been fired from his university for being a Marxist. His son, Karl, is now a moderate, up-and-coming Social Democrat. In the pages of this political meditation, Vladimir tries to discover whether his father was really Ludwik, the famous Communist spy purged at the time of the Hitler-Stalin pact. The question has gained urgency since Vladimir learned that his mother was an informer for the Russians for years and spied even on him. Ali folds his drama around the tight, cultlike atmosphere of Communist Party life, peopled by idealists who find their lives encumbered by betrayals, power grabs and corruption and who, in the postcommunist era, must come to terms with their complicity with Stalinism. Although Ali too often falls prey to simple, romantic what-ifs (What if Republican Spain had won? What if Trotsky had defeated Stalin?), this is a valuable book, especially for those interested in the current thinking of the European left. (Nov.) FYI: Tariq Ali is a political commentator and filmmaker in Great Britain.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Kirkus Reviews

Historian and novelist Ali (Redemption, 1991, etc.) charts the lives of a family of activists from the days of the Russian Revolution to the post-Wall malaise of our times. Ali is one of those rare creatures, an academic historian who has made a fairly successful transition to writing serious novels. His earlier fictions playfulness belied the writers training and roots, but this latest comes as a reminder of his Oxford/New Left Review background. The protagonist and sometime narrator is Vladimir, a former East German dissident who now finds himself as dismayed by the Germany that followed unification as he was by the half-Germany in which he lived and worked before. Vlady, as hes often called, has been fired from his teaching post because he still believes in a democratic form of socialism, ironically the same ideal that brought him problems in the DDR. His son Karl is a rising apparatchik in the post-ideological Social Democrats, his wife has left him for reasons that will be revealed only toward novels end, and his old friends are dying or changing sides in a discomfiting manner. Vladys main response is to try to decipher the mysteries of his recently deceased mother's past: Was his father a truly heroic figure of the old Communist movement, or something more sinister? What hell find, of course, is not what he expected. Ali tells this story in a pervasively melancholy tone leavened by occasional witty details such as a Sotheby's auction whose centerpiece is a 17th-century silk condom reputed to have belonged to Louis XIV. But hes too much of a historian to make the people here come to life as characters. Rather, they represent a series of political positions arbitrarily assigned quotas of tics that pass for psychology. Can a thoughtful and well-written novel also be a failure, and a bit of a bore? Heres the answer. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 332 pages
• Publisher: Seagull Books (May 12, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 190649715X
• ISBN-13: 978-1906497156
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,716,947 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars thoughtful insider's view on three generations of communism, December 13, 1999

By 

C. Haber - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fear of Mirrors (Paperback)

A book about delusion, fear, and not knowing who is really who, even in one's own family. The narrator tries to tell his son, who is estranged and of another political bent, what was behind his and his parents' generation's idealism for Marxism, something that in 90's Germany seems absurd. Though the book is somewhat of an apology for a Communism gone bad, far from the hopes and dreams of the people who believed so much in what it could bring, it is more than an apology. It is an honest self examination, a study of the need to believe, and what happens when you don't believe in anything anymore. It is also a story of a family, torn apart by communism, Nazism, Stalin's purges and family betrayal. It is both a historical novel and a family epic. I found it moving, compelling, and hard to put down. Clearly non-commercial, it is however of great value and good reading. For anyone interested in real issues of the 20th century instead of fluff or rehashed lawyer stories flooding the best seller list, read this. Your brains will be reactivated and it might make you realize that a lot of people suffered, fought for things they believed in, were betrayed, died and paid for the comforts we live with today, which in the end have not really dealt with the issues that triggered the events of this century, even as we head into the next one. Recommend highly. Compliments to a writer with both a social spirit, a sense of history and self-criticism and a knack for story telling.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A GREAT PIECE OF HISTORICAL FICTION, April 23, 2000

By 

Zoe Scott (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fear of Mirrors (Paperback)

I read this book knowing nothing of the author (I stioll don't) and not much of the history of 20th century communism, except that my mother's parents were both members of the Communist Party during the early Thirties. I found this book hypnotic and read it over a weekend. I then lent my copy to my grandma who thought it was 'anti-communist'. We had a big argument and agreed to disagree. The book tells how the communist idea was so attractive to the generations of the Twenties and Thirties and how their hopes were so cruelly betrayed. The narrator, Vladimir Meyer lives in the Eastern part of Berlin and the novel spans the entire 20th century. Ludwik, the Polish-Jewish communist spy almost seems real and is the most sympathetic character in this novel. He is also very filmic. This is a story which my grandma could never tell me...in fact she still doesn't believe it!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A historical fiction on rise and fall of Communism, March 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Fear of Mirrors (Paperback)

This author's first novel, REDEMPTION, was a hilarious spoof on Trotskyite groups and their closed world. FEAR OF MIRRORS is the other side of the coin. It is almost as if Ali is settling accounts with history as well as his readers. This is an evocative and moving account of the hopes aroused by the Russian Revolution and their bdetrayal. The narrator, Vladimir Meyer, is based in East Berlin. He is writing the story for his son, a rising star in the SPD apparatus. So the book is about three generations and the struggle to make a better world. It is a multi-layered work, melancholic, bleak, but for anyone who has lived through the last fifty years or more and was, at some stage, affected by the Marxist idea, this is a vital book. I read it in a day in between cooking meals for my kids. It is fiction. It is history. It is the sort of book that mainstream publishers avoid like the plague.Thank you Arcadia Books, whoever you are.