Question on "the siege of St. Petersburg"

[Elena Gapova]

Dear all,

I am posting this message on request from a friend: this is a question from
his student. You can reply directly to Bill Rosenberg at wgr at umich.edu

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------

I have heard from Russian friends of a book they studied in Soviet
era schools not dissimilar from "The Diary of Anne Frank", written by
a young girl who is starving during the seige of St. Petersburg. She
describes starvation felling her family and ultimately stops writing
just before she, too, succumbs. Obviously, hundreds of thousands
starved and I have no reason to doubt the subject matter. In trying
to learn more about this girl and her journal, I have encountered
verbal claims that the general subject was of course "real" but that
the book is a stunning example of disinformation, namely that it was
written after the fact by an adult (KGB?) ghost writer. I find this
plausible yet in conflict with the general Soviet policy of
projecting invincibility and minimizing open information about
disasters. Do you know the title and name of the young author of this
journal? Is the authenticity of her diary really a controversy? Is it
a macabre piece of literature or brainwashing of Soviet grade school
children? Does it exist in English translation? If not, is it your
impression that this book might be worthy of translation?

I am personally intrigued at the challenge of translating this book
if it is authentic and not available in English...
Thank you profoundly for taking the time to consider my questions.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------