NOVL.MEM.1971.5'.TERT
Translated from the Russian by Kyril Fitzlyon and Max Hayward, Collins & Harvill Press, London, 1976
* 1925, Moscow, † 1997, Paris, France
Until 1965 Andrey Donatovich Sinyavsky was a member of the Maxim Gorky Institute of World Literature in Moscow, and had become known for his articles and essays on modern Russian literature (such as his brilliant introduction to Pasternak's selected poetry), and a major study of poetry of the revolutionary era. In September 1965 he was arrested by the Soviet secret police, together with his fellow writer, Yuli Daniel, after it had been discovered that he was the mysterious "Abram Tertz" who for half-a-dozen years had been sending manuscripts abroad to be published there under his pen-name.
At his trial in February 1966 Sinyavsky was sentenced to seven years' forced labour for his "Abram Tertz" stories and essays in which he alleged to have "defamed" the Soviet social and political system. After serving six years of his sentence, he was released in 1971.
In 1973, he was allowed to leave for France with his wife and son. In Paris he lectured on Russian literature at the Sorbonne.