russian-american fiction/memoirs

[Robert Chandler]

Yes, BLACK EARTH CITY, by Charlotte Hobson (NB - spelling), an English
student who spent a year in Voronezh in 1991-92, while the USSR was
disintegrating, is outstanding.  It is beautifully written.  I do not know a
better short book about Russia in English.

Thanks, Deborah, for mentioning it!

Best wishes to all,

R.

> Two come to mind: Black Earth City by Charlotte Habout a recent college grad
> who spends a year in Voronezh in the early (mid?) 1990s. Though I am not 100%
> sure whether she is from England or the U.S.
>    
>   Also the television host Yelena Khanga has written a book. Here's the Barnes
> & Noble synopsis:
>   Yelena Khanga tells the compelling story of growing up black in Russia and
> journeying through cultures to learn about her forebears and meet relatives
> she had never known. From the days of slavery in the cotton fields of
> Mississippi to the Moscow of Stalin and Brezhnev, from Jewish New York and
> Harlem in the twenties to modern-day Los Angeles, Long Island, and Zanzibar,
> Soul to Soul is a four-generation family memoir.
>    
>>> This fall I am teaching a new writing-based course for first-year
>  students
>>> on the theme of "Russians in America; Americans in Russia."  (I've
>  used
>>> "Russians" here for simplicity's sake, but I am interested in all
>  citizens
>>> of Russia, and perhaps some other former Soviet republics).  I'm
>  primarily
>>> interested in issues of culture shock and acculturation.
>>> I've found some great material (primarily recent texts), but before
>  I
>>> finalize my syllabus, I'd love to hear your suggestions for
>  20th-21st
>>> century texts (short stories, memoirs, novels, films) that deal with
>>> Americans' experience of Russia or Russians' experience of America.
>   They
>>> need to be available in English.
>>> Thanks in advance!
>>> Sarah
>>> 
>>> Sarah Clovis Bishop
>>> Russian Department
>>> Wellesley College
>>> sbishop at wellesley.edu
>>> 781-283-2448
> 
> 
> 
> A man ceases to be a beginner in any given science and becomes a master in
> that science when he has learned that he is going to be a beginner all his
> life. -- R. G. Collingwood
> 
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