20th century
A01=Sonallah Ibrahim
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
Author_Sonallah Ibrahim
automatic-update
B06=Margaret Litvin
black market
brezhnev-era soviet life
Category1=Fiction
Category=FA
Category=FB
contemporary writers
COP=United Kingdom
corruption
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
drunkenness
dysfunction
egypt
egyptian novels
embassy officials
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
ethnic tensions
graduate studies
Language_English
literary work
literature
moscow
PA=Available
personal experience
Price_€10 to €20
PS=Active
real-life influences
research
revolutionary ideals
russia
softlaunch
studying
translated works
translation
Product details
- ISBN 9780857426505
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 13 x 21mm
- Publication Date: 25 Oct 2019
- Publisher: Seagull Books London Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
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The year is 1973. An Egyptian historian, Dr. Shukri, pursues a year of non-degree graduate studies in Moscow, the presumed heart of the socialist utopia. Through his eyes, the reader receives a guided tour of the sordid stagnation of Brezhnev-era Soviet life: intra-Soviet ethnic tensions; Russian retirees unable to afford a tin of meat; a trio of drunks splitting a bottle of vodka on the sidewalk; a Kirgiz roommate who brings his Russian girlfriend to live in his four-person dormitory room; black-marketeering Arab embassy officials; liberated but insecure Russian women; and Arab students’ debates about the geographically distant October 1973 War. Shukri records all this in the same numbly factual style familiar to fans of Sonallah Ibrahim’s That Smell, punctuating it with the only redeeming sources of beauty available: classical music LPs, newly acquired Russian vocabulary, achingly beautiful women, and strong Georgian tea.
Based on Ibrahim’s own experience studying at the All-Russian Institute of Cinematography in Moscow from 1971 to 1973, Ice offers a powerful exploration of Arab confusion, Soviet dysfunction, and the fragility of leftist revolutionary ideals.
Based on Ibrahim’s own experience studying at the All-Russian Institute of Cinematography in Moscow from 1971 to 1973, Ice offers a powerful exploration of Arab confusion, Soviet dysfunction, and the fragility of leftist revolutionary ideals.
