The Commissariat of Enlightenment

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Ken Kalfus gives us an epic story about the death of two Russian visionaries, the life of a radical antihero, and the birth of a new kind of power." It begins in 1910 in Astapovo, a remote Russian railway station, where Leo Tolstoy lies dying of pneumonia. Members of the press from around the world have descended upon this sleepy hamlet to record his passing for a public suddenly ravenous for celebrity news. They have been joined by a film company whose young assistant, Nikolai Gribshin, is capturing the extraordinary scene and learning how to wield a camera as a political tool. At this historic moment he comes across two men - the scientist, Professor Vorobev, and the revolutionist, Joseph Stalin - who have bold, mysterious plans for the future that will inevitably involve him. With the coming of the Russian Revolution, Gribshin takes on the nom de guerre Comrade Astapov and joins the Bolshevik ministry of propaganda. In league now with Stalin and Vorobev, he plots to kill Lenin and glorify his embalmed body, promoting a vision of lifeless immortality that will dominate the minds of millions. In this brutal, absurd age, Gribshin seeks to transform himself and redirect the course of history.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New Yorker

For Comrade Astapov of the Agitprop Section of the Commissariat of Enlightenment, the filmmaker protagonist of this début novel, "life's struggle was not to control events, but the way in which they were remembered." His story begins in 1910, at the press-besieged deathbed of Tolstoy, where his talent for manipulating film to falsify events earns the notice of Stalin. Astapov's distortions are the perfect metaphor for Kalfus's own special effects: Stalin, of course, wasn't there when Tolstoy died. Preoccupied with truth, media, history, and politics, this novel shows its mechanisms proudly. Its stunning conclusion is a postmortem voice-over from the embalmed mind of Lenin, who, still conscious, is able to survey Russia's future, and is eternally irritated by the abuses of his successor.

Book Magazine - Beth Kephart

This first novel by the acclaimed short-story writer opens with the dying of Leo Tolstoy in Astapovo, a railway station located somewhere in Russia. Tolstoy is iconic, a giant of a man, and reporters and camera crews have descended upon the peasant town to record the transitional moment. It is the world's first true media circus, the dawning of the age of celebrity, and among those who bear witness to the stupefying scene are an embalmer named Professor Vorobev and a young, hard-hearted cinematographer named Nikolai Gribshin. Gribshin will use his talent for propaganda to promote the suspect ambitions of Stalin, and Vorobev will be engaged in a macabre plot to embalm Lenin's body. Along the way, real events and characters from history are reinvented by Kalfus' dervish imagination. There are no cuddly characters in this novel of ideas�no scenes of affection, hardly a trace of tenderness. What there is instead is Kalfus' brand of black humor, his fascination with those turning points in history that foretell the future.

Publishers Weekly

Kalfus's two well-received short story collections (Thirst and Pu-239 and Other Russian Fantasies) set a high standard for his first novel, a sweeping, quasihistorical fiction spanning two tumultuous decades in Russia. From the opening scenes at Leo Tolstoy's deathbed (and the surrounding media circus) to the rise of Stalin, the narrative unfolds with Kalfus's signature mix of carefully researched history, subtle social commentary and leaping, imaginative storytelling. Tolstoy's demise in 1910 presents a career-launching opportunity for a young cinematographer who's beginning to understand the power of film to change or create political reality. This knowledge comes in handy as Russia moves unsteadily from postrevolution chaos toward the Soviet state and its bureaucracies, one of which is the Commissariat of Enlightenment, the powerful agency in charge of propaganda. The cinematographer's fate merges with that of Comrade Astapov, director of the massive Red agitprop campaign. Those who resist the commissariat include a church congregation that refuses to give up its faith, an experimental theater director, and a resilient young woman who makes an abstract, pornographic film in the name of sexual education for women. Unforgettable re-creations of embalmer and scientist Vladimir Vorobev (who mummified Lenin), Joseph Stalin and Countess Tolstoy anchor the plethora of plot developments, which involve many minor-and major-characters with double identities and secret agendas that demand patience and close attention from the reader. Told in supple, witty and gritty prose, the story exhibits all the vigorous intelligence and vision readers have come to expect from Kalfus. (Feb. 1) Forecast: Kalfus has a following among young literati, and this novel should benefit from extensive review coverage. Two-city author tour. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews