Russia: A Chronicle of Three Journeys in the Aftermath of the Revolution

Rating:
Summary: Great book, even if a little naive
Review: Nikos Kazantzakis is another one of those fascinating, neglected 20th-century writers who are pretty much known for only a couple of books nowadays (usually not their best). In Kazantzakis' case, it's "Zorba the Greek" and "The Last Temptation of Christ", both of which were turned into second-rate movies that by and large ignore the serious, bone-crushingly provocative nature of the books.

Kazantzakis was more than just a novelist: he was also an astute traveler and journalist. During the 1920s and '30s he traveled all over Europe, Asia, and North Africa working for various Greek newspapers. His articles are some refreshing journalism. Kazantzakis had a sharp eye and a keen ability to capture the "spiritual" essence of whatever it was he was writing about. What makes his writing so unique is that he's not just interested in retelling the bone-dry facts: he's also interested in the greater human, even "cosmic", significance of things -- above all, the importance and value of human agony, agony as a creative process. He constantly sought to depict the spiritual struggles of man, even if that "spirituality" amounted to no more than faith in man himself (as was the case in the Soviet Union). His interest in all this stuff can be pretty overplayed at times, even verging on mysticism (he compared Lenin to the Messiah once and in his introduction to this book he harps about some kind of "invisible cosmogonic Force" at work in Russia -- oooh!), but it's definitely a different way of looking at things.

Kazantzakis traveled through Russia on three trips between 1925 and 1929. He offers some uncharacteristically optimistic insights into what was going on in Russia just before Stalin let loose his horrors in the 1930s. Kazantzakis is unlike most other serious writers about Russia at the time in that he refuses to lose faith in the ultimate redemptive value of the Russian Revolution: he doesn't bail out on the Revolution just because things aren't going perfectly.

Still, Kazantzakis IS capable of criticising the Communists. For example, he praises the Revolution for making a place for the Jews in the new Russia, but then, at the end of the chapter, does a deft about-face, prophesying that, as so often in their history, disaster will eventually befall them: "A class that until now has known only oppression and injustice is rising and wants to be free. [In Russia] many great scientists, philosophers, economists, journalists, men of action, are Jews. How long will this intellectual dominance of theirs prevail? Just as long as the transitory period through which we are passing. One day they asked the Jewish economist, Rathenau, 'What will be the consequences of Russian communism?' 'A terrible massacre of the Jews,' he answered." And Kazantzakis proved to be right.

Some of these articles are less interesting than others and Kazantzakis' annoying habit of cramming way too much mysticism into the book detracts from it, but overall this is a great read. 4 stars.