Yevtushenko: A Precocious Autobiography

One of the most important books to come out of the Soviet Union, this remarkable story is already the subject of unprecedented international press coverage. When it appeared in part in a French newspaper, it was the focus of an all-out attack on the idol of Russia's younger generation--a spirited young intellectual who insists upon thinking for himself, no matter what the cost. The poet Yevtushenko speaks from his heart to tell of all the things that matter most to him--his love for the land, a heritage from his peasant mother; his love for literature, which he inherited from his scholarly father; his meeting with Pasternak; the revelation that came to him at Stalin's grave. He talks of writers who followed the style of socialist realism and give his own feelings o the subject, and he gives his views on the work of such Western writers as Hemingway, Salinger, Kerouac, Willams and Arthur Miller. It is both a brilliant life story and a candid, outspoken tribute to a man's courage and determination to speak what he believes.