"Generations of Winter"

Paper Summary:

The purpose of this paper is to introduce and discuss the book "Generations of Winter," by Vassily Aksyonov. Specifically, it discusses the author's background, and how the work reflects the political and social environment of the time. Aksyonov was familiar with the atrocities of socialist Russia firsthand. He spent time in Russian prisons and was expelled from his country because of his writing. The paper shows that the history of Russia is full with such stories of oppression and censor and "Generations of Winter" recounts only some of these atrocities and how they affect the people of Russia, with pathos, humor and insight.

From the Paper:

"Aksyonov writes in "Generations of Winter" of some of the excesses and terror of the Stalin regime, and does so with humor and candor. "In 1951, [after this first book in a trilogy takes place] Mr. Aksyonov points out, the slave-labor force within the Soviet Union exceeded 14 million. 'To the camps were sent even the bumblers who showed up late for work - in other words, who committed a crime that amounted to sabotage of reconstruction'" (Jacoby 35).
His book is an ideal example of the political and social environment of the times. There was extreme unrest in Russia, people were revolting against the government, and then war struck. Lives were uncertain and distorted forever because of the war, and because of the brutality of the Stalin regime. By following the lives of this family and their friends and lovers, Aksyonov shows first hand the lack of political and personal freedoms, how the people were always afraid, and how they realized their lives would never return to the good times of pre-communist Russia."

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