ESCAPE FROM ‘WARD SIX.
RUSSIA FACING PAST AND PRESENT
- This book is a witness account of the transition in Russia, a period which represents a unique crossroads in the country's turbulent history. The author presents a kaleidoscopic view of life in Russia embracing politics, economics, literature, the arts, the Orthodox Church, various social currents and general society. Escape From ‘Ward Six’ also focuses on the past - the violence and terror, the legal and moral nihilism, the destruction of the country's cultural heritage - thereby demonstrating how the country reached a historical dead-end.
Foreign-language Translations of Escape from “Ward Six”
- Polish-language edition: Guest author of Philip Wilson Warsaw Pub. Ltd. at launch of Polish edition, at Warsaw International Book Fair, Warsaw, Poland, from 20-24 May 2004, 3,000 copies published.
Book Reviews
- “...We know that the British love Chekhov very much. The fact that for Alexandra George the psychiatric ward and the aspiration of its patients to escape its walls became a symbol of Russia’s history is not very surprising. What astonishes one is something else – the accuracy, lucidity and objectivity of this book, an extremely rare attribute for this genre.”Novy Inostranets (New Foreigner), Moscow, July 1999
- Kultura (Moscow) Review, October 7-13, 1999: Full Page Article entitled: Escape from “Ward Six”: “includes fifteen chapters which embrace positively everything: economics, Lenin as the founder of the Anti-World, politics, art, religion, education. The book’s academism is generously diluted by close-ups – both “conversations in the kitchen” and conversations with ordinary people in the depths of the countryside. One can predict with confidence that this book will become a model, that Western sociologists and publicists will draw their conclusions on its basis. A Polish translation of “Escape” is already getting ready for publication.... Alexandra George... is without a doubt a striking representative of a relatively small part of mankind known as “citizens of the world.”
- Ivan Tolstoy, Cultural correspondent, Radio Free Liberty\ Radio Europe, Prague: “To follow the author along the principle substantial landmarks of Russian 20th century history is a fascinating affair. Culture and society, militancy and criminality, customs and morals -- everything in Alexandra George’s book is called by its name and is displayed without embellishment. The author succeeds best of all in showing how mass consciousness facilely exonerated itself from a sentiment of historical guilt, although each person taken separately is a sufferer and philosopher. The enigmatic Russian soul! A brilliant tour de force!
- Slavic and East European Journal Book Review: The task the author “undertakes is gigantic...The important point of the book is in its title: Escape from “Ward Six”. “Ward Six” is Anton Chekhov’s symbolic representation of tsarist Russia as a mental hospital where people are locked in. This image of the country is appropriate for Russia at the end of the century... George had a unique opportunity to witness historical events in Russia for several years; she reflects on them in her book and displays erudition in a wide variety of areas...This fundamental book is recommended to a broad audience interested in the Russian present.” Irina Ustinova, Syracuse University.
- Dr. Richard Pipes, Professor Emeritus of Russian history at Harvard, author of The Russian Revolution and Russia under the Old Regime, in a note to the author, called “Ward Six” “a gigantic undertaking. The first thing that strikes the reader are the remarkable photographs, some of which are entirely new, at least to me. I have not been able, as yet, to read the book from cover to cover, but I have read sections. I am struck by your ability to convey the moral and physical morass that was the Soviet Union and that is now being whitewashed... In the meantime, congratulations on a significant accomplishment.” (Note to author)
- Veronique Schiltz, archaeologist specialized on the Scythian culture of Russia/Ukraine, author of classic, LES SCYTHES (The Scythians), Gallimard, Paris, and close friend of poet Joseph Brodsky. On the Brodsky trial and exile, Chapter 7: “The fact that you were thus able to find and question Lerner, and that you were able to make him talk is, of course, a feat. Your precise description of the apartment, of his wife and of the entire conversation reveals much more than all the long commentaries” (Letter to author, dated Paris, 21 November 1998).
Articles About Ward Six
- “The Artist vs. the State in the Soviet Union” by Alexandra George. Based on chapter 6 on the arts, Fine Art, New York (spring 2000). Cover article.
Mention of Ward Six
- “Russia’s Heroes are Certainly a Breed Apart,” Op-Ed Page Article by Larisa Kosova, Moscow Times, 5 August, 1999.
Lectures, Talks and Reviews on “Ward Six received up till November 1999
- Inaugural Presentation of ESCAPE FROM ‘WARD SIX’: “Images from Ward Six,” Russian World Gallery, 800 Fifth Avenue, New York, 18.00-20.30 p.m., 24 September 1998
- Radio Presentation in Russian, 24 September, 6.30 am-8.00 am, “Russkaya Volna,” New York
- Radio Free Europe, Washington DC, 30 mins, 23 October, 1998
- WNYC am, “New York and Co. Programme,” 40 min, 3 November 1998
- Radio Free Europe, 2nd interview, Nov. 12, 1998 after RFE/RL cultural correspondent, Ivan Tolstoy, in Prague likes the book and requests additional material for his programme
- Anglia Book Store, Moscow. Invited to give presentation on arts aspect of “Ward Six” on 29 May 1999
- VOA, New York, 20 April. Interview.
- Borders Bookstore, Manhattan, 19 May 1999
- Anglia bookstore, St. Petersburg, 18 December 1999
- Library of Congress, Foreign Area Studies programme, 11 January 2000
- American Friends of the Hermitage, New York, 16 March 2000
