Fear of Mirrors - Softcover

Ali, Tariq

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1900850109 ISBN 13: 9781900850100

Publisher: Arcadia Books, 1998

Synopsis

For some East Germans, the fall of Communism was like the end of a long and painful love affair: free to tell the truth at last, they found they no longer wanted to hear it. Vlady, a former dissident who loses his job when he refuses to renounce his socialist beliefs in the new, unified Germany, wants to tell his alienated son, Karl, what his family's long and passionate involvement with Communism really meant. It is the story of Ludwik, the Polish secret agent who recruited Philby, and of Gertrude, Vlady's mother, whose desire for Ludwik is matched only by her devotion to the Communist ideal. As the plot unfolds through the political upheavals of the twentieth century, Vlady describes the hopes aroused by the Bolshevik revolution and discovers the almost unbearable truth about their betrayal.

About this title

About the Author:

Born and educated in Pakistan and later at Oxford University, Tariq Ali is a writer, playwright and film-maker. He is an editor of the New Left Review and the author of over a dozen books on world history and politics; his first novel, Redemption, was published in 1990. It was followed in 1992 by Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree, which has been translated into several languages and was awarded the Best Foreign Language Fiction Prize in Santiago de Compolesta, Spain, in 1995. Tariq Ali lives in London.

Synopsis:

Vladimir Meyer is a former dissident leader, who refuses to renounce his beliefs and is sacked by the authoritites. For him, his father's generation has failed him. Meyer decides to write the story of his family, hoping that his son and grandchildren will understand what this century is all about.

About this edition

• Publisher: Arcadia Books
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 1900850109
• ISBN 13: 9781900850100
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240