by Volodymyr Dibrova
translated by Halyna Hryn
Northwestern University Press, 1996
Cloth: 978-0-8101-1219-3 | Paper: 978-0-8101-1237-7
Library of Congress Classification PG3949.14.I27A25 1996
Dewey Decimal Classification 891.7933

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ABOUT THIS BOOK
In these two novellas, Volodymyr Dibrova tells the story of how the Soviet system was sustained by individuals who never truly believed in it, but simply lacked the courage to oppose it.

Peltse portrays the formation of an average apparatchik. Both funny and alarming, it provides a psychological portrait of an individual trapped in a system he simultaneously dislikes and depends upon for survival. Pentameron tells the story of one day in the life of five colleagues at a Soviet research institute. Each is dissatisfied, yet all are trapped in and by a system that has taken away their ability to act decisively.