Julia Voznesenskaya
Like Boccacio's famous Florentines, Julia Voznesenskaya's Russian women are cunning and savvyâ€”about all facets of the Soviet system. They know how to beat it and how to endure. Quarantined in a Leningrad maternity ward after giving birth, ten women from all walks of Soviet life amuse themselves by telling storiesâ€”stories that provide an astonishingly intimate and dramatic insight into the lives of Russia today.,The women recount one hundred storiesâ€”one story told each day by each of the ten women for ten daysâ€”on such themes as love, jealousy, infidelity, seduction, farcical sex, money, revenge, and finally, happiness. Beneath their gossip runs the stark reality of a society torn apart by suicide, divorce, and alcoholism; by the difficulties of finding food and a place to live; by the threat of harrowing imprisonment. Voznesenskaya writes vividly about everyday Soviet life as well as politics, and her revealing book conveys a passionate belief in the spiritual strength of the Russian woman, to which readers everywhere will respond with sympathy and shocks of recognition.
Fiction,Short Stories,Cultural,Russia,Literature,Russian Literature,Literature,Womens,Feminism,Historical,Historical Fiction
The Women's Decameron