Synopses & Reviews
Shklovsky: Witness to an Era is a blend of riotous anecdote, personal history, and literary reflection, collecting interviews with Viktor Shklovsky conducted by scholar Serena Vitale in the ’70s, toward the end of the great critic’s life, and in the face of interference and even veiled threats of violence from the Soviet government. Bearing witness to a vanished age whose promise ended in despair, Shklovsky is in great form throughout, summing up a century of triumphs and disappointments, personal and historical.
Review
"“When Serena Vitale traveled to Moscow, proposing to gather Viktor Shklovsky’s thoughts and memories in a book-length interview, the writer was furious: ‘How,’ he cried, ‘can you write a book in ten days?’—This from the mercurial figure who had written articles, novels, essays, screenplays; everything, as he said, apart from poetry and denunciations . . . But the intelligent interviewer persevered, and won the day: the dialogue took place in Moscow at the end of December 1978, in exceptional weather, one of the coldest winters of the century . . . [and became] an opportunity [for Shklovsky] to revive, with his dazzling images, the vitality of movements past, to honor the passions of artists and poets.”" Il Messaggero
Review
"“When Serena Vitale traveled to Moscow, proposing to gather Viktor Shklovsky’s thoughts and memories in a book-length interview, the writer was furious: ‘How,’ he cried, ‘can you write a book in ten days?’—This from the mercurial figure who had written articles, novels, essays, screenplays; everything, as he said, apart from poetry and denunciations . . . But the intelligent interviewer persevered, and won the day: the dialogue took place in Moscow at the end of December 1978, in exceptional weather, one of the coldest winters of the century . . . [and became] an opportunity [for Shklovsky] to revive, with his dazzling images, the vitality of movements past, to honor the passions of artists and poets.”" Il Messaggero
About the Author
Serena Vitale is a professor of Russian language and literature at Universit