by Julian Barnes · Editorial Anagrama · tapa blanda · ISBN 9788433979551
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On January 26, 1936, Joseph Stalin attends a performance of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk by Dmitri Shostakovich at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, observing from a hidden box. The composer, aware of his presence, feels uneasy. Two days later, a devastating editorial in Pravda, seemingly approved by Stalin, accuses him of being a deviationist. In the years of the Great Terror, this accusation could mean deportation or death. However, Shostakovich survives, composing patriotic music during World War II and representing the regime in New York, repeating what the political commissars dictate to him. This novel by Julian Barnes explores the desolate relationship between art and power, where Shostakovich sacrifices his soul and artistic ambition to survive in times of barbarism.
Julian Patrick Barnes is an English essayist, novelist and short story writer.
