book of books - The Madhouse

Most of the great works of Russian literature are either in the 19th century or from a select band of writers that have made a reputation in the West from the 20th century. But if you go looking there are some real gems to be found from writers that used their talent to highlight the madness of the Soviet system and Alexander Zinoviev is among those.

It is not too difficult to find works that are written during the years of the Stalin purges but this is set against the era of Brezhnev when things were in the odd state of being mocked but still having teeth.

The title refers to the nickname for the institution where the main character works but it is of course a play on the entire country and the communist system.

Plot summary
The story evolves around a junior research fellow (JRF) in an academic institute who half heartedly plans becoming a party member and moving up to the next step on the ladder. One of JRF’s jobs is to liaise with the mentally ill who keep trying to send in treatises to the academy and as a result he meets someone he refers to as ‘the terrorist’ and along with a collection of people in his head – Marx, Lenin, Stalin and the KGB leaders Iron Felix and Beria – he spends most of his time living in a fantasy world. When he is not participating or watching those mock the system, spending time with women or arguing with the voices in his head he has to live in a small apartment with neighbours only too happy to denounce him. The result of that is that the KGB pick up on his trial and are determined to nail him for planning political assassinations. His friends and colleagues are interviewed and the case against him deepens. He is sent to a rest home and when he returns at a critical stage in his career the men in the trench coats come for him and take him away.

Is it well written?
It is sometimes difficult to work out just what is happening because you sense there is an assumption that you will be familiar with the machinations of the soviet state. But what does become clear through the use of the historical voices in JRF’s head is that the system was built on madness, thrived on it and even when it is falling apart continues to function like a drunk lunatic. The sense of unreality that must have always existed but was something to be feared in Stalin’s time is there but with a leader everyone jokes about and a West everyone is jealous of it seems acceptable to attack the system. But as JRF shows you can still be hurt and lose your career and your lodgings if you get on the wrong side of the few nutters left running the country.

Should it be read?
It is not one of those books that jumps out at you and comes with glowing reviews all over the dust jacket but it does deserve a read if you are interested in Russian literature. Along with other accounts of the communist years this is one of the few so far that I have read that is set against the background of the Brezhnev era and it is different from other novels as a result. There is no civil war, no Stalin and no second world war. But there is a weary awareness about the lies and the terror that has gone before and the awful acceptance that to get on you still have to kowtow to that system.

Summary
Junior researcher with beard and a free mind – full of historical communist figures – gets caught up in his own fantasy and is crushed by the state leaving you to wonder just who is mad

Version read – Paladin paperback

The Madhouse - post IX

This is all going to be the wrong way round today because I am hoping to read some of Around the World… later tonight but in the meantime my lunchtime read is the final part of The Madhouse. Finally it seems to make sense and although you sense that some of the cuts here did impact the novel’s cohesion the general point – freedom of thought is not going to be tolerated - does come across in the end.

Bullet points between pages 452 – 501

* The time at the rest home comes to an end and JRF heads back to Moscow not really having made any friends but certainly having found more evidence if it was needed of a deep cynicism about the system

* Before he leave he has an encounter with the former head of the academy who calls for his papers that JRF had been working on and then burns them and shortly afterwards dies but starts to appear in dreams to JRF telling him that he had denounced plenty of other people to save his own skin

* Back in Moscow and JRF senses something is wrong because no one is happy to see him and things start to get bleaker with the May Day parades coming up and the KGB vowing to get any potential troublemakers off the streets

* After visiting his parents JRF realises that he is not wanted and starts to feel vulnerable and heads back and sure enough is called to the directors office and escorted off the premises by two men

* The irony is that he had just begun to contemplate conforming to the system and was ultimately punished for the imaginary world of his dreams and his thoughts

A full review will follow shortly…

The Madhouse - post VIII

An ex boss of mine once made the comment when we were particularly under worked that we would find the work we had would fill the time. The same principle works with The Madhouse with it almost being at the end but enough reading has been left to fill the commute for tomorrow.

As a result the treacle pace continues but it cannot do for much longer because the pages are running out. The reason it’s so slow going is not so much because of the book, which is slightly repetitive in labouring the point, but it’s more to do with tiredness and failing to keep the eyes open on the way home from work.

Bullet points between pages 408 - 452

* There are two stories running in parallel with Stalin killing Lenin and taking the reigns of power in such a away all of those who felt they were close to Lenin and part of the leadership are isolated and weak compared to Stalin

* The way the story is told it is clear that n* ot only did Lenin not rate Stalin but he could hardly remember who he was and putting the structure of the party in his hands was more of a way of getting rid of him rather than building him up

* But Stalin is ruthless and believes that the way revolutions are won is not through speeches and slogans but through action, most of which is brutal

* Back at the rest home JRF and the rest are told to be on their best behaviour as a VIP arrives who spends most of his trip drunk and unable to speak or stand but the result of him appearing is that the food improves

* The VIP manages to get through the weekend unscathed meanwhile the party supporters start to write denunciations of colleagues they don’t approve of and the jokes about communism and Brezhnev continue

Final chunk tomorrow…

The Madhouse - post VII

Reading this is a bit like treacle at the moment and although the end is in sight it is getting harder to read a decent chunk each day and the result is that you feel the book will never finish which is a bit like the characters feel about communism.

The location does not seem to matter for the sickness at the heart of communism to be displayed so the same complaints are made at JRF’s rest home. As usual JRF seems to go through the entire experience without seeming to get much attention.

Bullet points between pages 368 – 408

* In the rest home JRF is put in with five other patients and he manages to quickly find a girlfriend and get set in a group of about ten that seems harmless enough but contains the usual characters that both put up with and hate the system

* Everyone gets excited and distracted by the idea that they find a lecture discussing the idea that there might be aliens around that come down in their spaceships and take party members away

* Throughout the JRF segments there is a story being told of the rise of Stalin with him being a double agent for the Tsarist police and building up a violent network of revolutionaries that are prepared to do his bidding

* Stalin is made out to be a driven individual who understands more than Lenin that it takes actions not speeches to win a revolution and he of all the possible pretenders is prepared to do it

More tomorrow…

The Madhouse - post VI

The battle for the harvest ends in waste and disappointment and is used by the STA as a metaphor for the failure of communism. The different types of personality and reaction to communism is also shown by those who work and those who shirk. The entire experience seems to sum up the misery of living under a system that no longer has any ability to inspire fear or respect from its people.

Bullet points between pages 322 – 368

* There is an argument between JRF and one of the hard working members of the team who says that he cannot relate to the young man but in the end the argument is diffused after someone points out they are both striving to be individualists and are very much alike

* The rains come and things start to get hairy for the workers who have not been issued with proper waterproof clothing and now face pressure to get everything picked before the crops get ruined

* But with the transport system being halted by mud the workers are told to put the food they dig up into storage pits in the ground where everyone knows they will be left to go rotten and then when the building supplies come in to build proper storage theft is rife

* The period in the countryside ends with bitter feelings over the theft of the building supplies with most having to be put back after an inquiry is launched and the commissar is exposed for having a relationship out of wedlock and it all gets a bit messy

So ends parts three of the book and the final part should revert back to JRF and pick up the story of the KGB investigation. More tomorrow...

Zinoviev's communism definition

The Madhouse is written in the Brezhnev era when the fear of Stalin type actions was reducing and the obvious gap between the quality of life in the West and Russia was clear to anyone who wanted to open their eyes. The result is a cynicism about communism as a political approach that permeates all of The Madhouse with one stunning example of Zinoviev’s definition of communism:

He talks about defining a society buy the amount of good quality goods (in this case sandals and potatoes) they make and bad quality with the good quality going to the leadership and the bad going to the masses. On paper communism should supply nothing but good quality goods to its people. But you could not be more wrong…

“If your calculations had produced the following result: eleven pairs of good sandals (two pairs for the Gen Sec and a pair each for the chief members of the Politburo) and two hundred and fifty-four million nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand and nine hundred and eighty-nine bad pairs, and similarly eleven tons of good potatoes (two tons for the Gen Sec and a ton each for the chief members of the Politburo) and two hundred and fifty-four million nine hundred and ninety-nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand and nine hundred and eighty-nine tons of bad ones, then you could say with complete assurance that you are dealing with a society under full communism.”

The Madhouse - post V

In part three of the book the point of view changes from that of the junior research fellow (JRF) to a senior technical assistant (STA) who is even more cynical than JRF about the state of communism. He has reached the heights of being JRF but was demoted back down to a STA because he made up his research, stole ideas and was incredibly lazy. Now he manages to live in his sleep and shut out the parts of the daily grind that annoy him.

Bullet points from pages 264 - 322

* The STA has seen a bit of life and is highly cynical about the state if not just Russia but also the world at large having an incredibly cynical attitude about those in positions of leadership

* He manages to lose his chances of promotion by stealing research from the provinces and trying to pass it off as his own and then because he becomes a model parasite that lives off the system without contributing much

* Partly in reaction to something that is compulsory anyway but because if you volunteer you don’t have to go the next year STA signs up to work on the collective farm that is connected to the academy

* On the farm he is put in a group with JRF who seems to have no opinions on anything but still manages to provoke an interest but it is the woman running the place that brings most people together because of her ridiculous views on the West

* Crops are stolen and sold and the system of targets and numerical trading between collective farms exposes the hollowness of the entire system and adds more fuel to the anti-communist fire that STA is happy stirring up

More tomorrow...

The Madhouse - post IV

The campaign to try to entrap JRF steps up a gear with the introduction of a female agent who is meant to seduce him, gain his trust and then get him to reveal more incrimination secrets. But things at work change dramatically with the arrival of a young woman in the administration team who despite the poison of colleagues decides to start something with JRF.

Bullet points between pages 202 – 264

* JRF is tipped off by Beria that if he goes to the cinema there is going to be a young woman waiting for him that will have been sent by the KGB and she will be compliant and friendly towards him

* Meanwhile at work things seem to be going well with his new boss liking him and starting to hand out the sort of privileges that come at a higher level – like library study days – which JRF spends down the pub

* Some of his friends continue to try and incriminate him by talking about the attraction of assassinations but JRF remains quiet worrying about the blood thirsty turn that some of his friends have taken

* Then he starts to see a new member of staff and the relationship sparks jealousy across the board with even his KGB staged lover showing a jealous streak that is unusual for someone with numerous lovers including many in the Academy

* With the KGB case getting nowhere fast they tell the academy to send him off on sick leave so that he is out of the way when they build a case against him but the announcement that JRF is being sent to the country sparks even more jealously

More maybe over the weekend…

The Madhouse - post III

Things become clear as JRF suddenly becomes the focus of a KGB investigation and the difference between those characters that are real and in his mind are laid bare. Although he has moved department the work he was involved in with the mentally ill has damaged him as the KGB take anyone mad or sane seriously and have the ability if required to rehabilitate someone clinically insane if they could be a good witness.

The funniest part is when the investigators come up against Marx, Beria, Stalin and Lenin – the characters that populate JRF’s mind and try to pin down who they are.

“’Right’ said the leader of the team of operatives. , ‘the connection between JRF and the “Workers’ Group” has been confirmed. Those members of the group that have been arrested have identified him. We now know who have been hiding behind the nicknames Terrorist, Poet and Herself. As yet we have been unable to identify Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Iron Felix, Beria and Himself.’”

Bullet points between pages 122 – 202

* Hanging out with people that talk, however madly, about the prospect of blowing up the head of the KGB was bound to land JRF in trouble and sure enough he is called in to discuss the terrorists plans

* But almost instantly the case is no longer about the Terrorist and the idea that he had also outlined of a workers’ group but is about JRF and the KGB sense there is a chance to pin something on the sane element of the investigation JRF himself

* In parallel to talking to JRF all of his friends and colleagues are also dragged in with some being encouraged to try to encourage him to discuss terrorist attacks and others being told to write down details of conversations that might incriminate him

* All the time the voices in his head – Beria and Iron Felix – with direct experience of the secret service try to give him advice that will help him counter the growing storm that threatens to undermine his good work in the academy

* Despite all of this he is still searching in vain for the woman who gave him the ottoman and she writes a letter that tells him that she never intends to see him again and that seems to be an end to the matter

More tomorrow…

The Madhouse - post II

There is a constant stream of debate happening in the mind of the hero of the book between Lenin, Stalin, Beria, Iron Felix (founder of the modern KGB) and Marx. They keep telling him that it doesn’t matter what he thinks the system is all about because it is flawed but that is irrelevant because to succeed you have to not only turn a blind eye to the failures but embrace them and become one of them.

Bullet points between pages 64 – 122

* JRF starts the process of becoming a party member not because he believes but because without that he cannot publish his thesis and move onto the next rung of the ladder

* But as he starts to consider becoming a party member the debate in his head about the relevance and the morality of the party starts to get louder with Stalin and Marx admitting that there works and approach were ‘shit’

* Meanwhile on the relationship front all of the running around to get his party accreditation means that he loses one girlfriend who he stands up and then almost loses another who is forced to stay locked in his room for hours

* But one girl remains faithful to him and he returns one night drunk and tired and finds that she has replaced his bed with an ottoman but when he wakes from a blissful sleep she has gone and he doesn't remember anything about her

* He starts to ingratiate himself with some of the movers and shakers in the academy and is asked to write the preface to a book that one of the directors is writing about scientists that have expressed negative thoughts about the regime

* All the time there is a debate raging in his mind with Stalin, Lenin and the voices from the KGB all discussing why the communist party is defunct and how he can climb the greasy pole by taking a few short-cuts

More tomorrow when hopefully I will have calmed down a little bit more about the bike being stolen. The attitude of the police was predictable with them showing little hope of getting it back or little interest in the whole case.

The Madhouse - post I

It is unusual to have an author set out in the foreword a declaration that the book you are about to read is about a non-entity. Most would at least try to give the impression that the main character was perhaps flawed but worth sticking with but Zinoviev from the off explains that the story will focus on the trials and tribulations of JRF, a Junior Research Fellow, who is destined never to fit into Soviet society.

Bullet points between pages 1 – 64

* JRF has moved out of his parents house and shares an apartment with a couple and their daughter and works at the institute of ideology trying to work his way through academia and up the greasy pole

* His academy is known as the madhouse because it is painted yellow, which was the colour the state used to distinguish those buildings that housed the mentally ill and insane and so although having a weekend of it being blue the nickname has stuck

* He manages to lead a pretty undistinguished sort of existence neither gaining the eye of his superiors or the respect of his family and manages to stir some sort of love hate relationship with the man he shares an apartment with

* The problem he faces is summed up in poetry by his friend who has the ability to produce lyrical verses that pack a punch:

What really matters is, I find,
You have to be one of Their kind.
Not one of Them up at the top,
But down below among the slop.
To she with Them identity
The watchword is ‘nonentity’.
You see, when all is said and done,
The thing to realise is one
Is joining not the brightest wits,
But a Brotherhood of Shits.

* Despite being a slight nonentity JRF has too much of his own mind – described almost like a schizophrenic at times with different voices advising him what to do – and he is able to conjure up the voices of the past, particularly Lenin and Stalin and the old head of the KGB

* He is not a member of the party but realises that you have to become one to make your way and there are hoops you have to jump through and he doesn’t seem to make the right connections

Those lines taken from a poem will stick with me, tempted to print them out and have them around my desk at work, that has been a real highlight from today’s reading.

More tomorrow…