Night of Stone: Death and Memory in Russia

Conveying the darkness of Russia's twentieth century, and the extraordinary suffering of its citizens. During the twentieth century, Russia, Ukraine and other territories of the former Soviet Union experienced more violent and avoidable deaths than anywhere else on earth. Two world wars and one civil, state-created famines and purges are only the most significant chapters in an unrelenting epic of destruction. How did Russians cope with loss and bereavement on such a vast scale? How does such a society mourn, and how does it treat its dead? Nights of Stone starts with the ornate, public services of the old Orthodox rite and traces the various attempts to impose an acceptable and emotionally fulfilling atheist alternative as Bolshevism bore down on public and private rituals of all kinds. The narrative touches on forgotten utopian-scientific theories of materialist resurrection (hence the embalming of Lenin's and Stalin's corpses) and failed attempts to banish superstition. It is also, above all, the history of a silence. Untold millions of Russians were forbidden to mourn their loved ones who died as enemies of the people, kulaks, prisoners of war or vanished victims of the purges. Merridale has interwoven the history of the modern Russian empire with the intensely personal memories of those left behind, the bereaved, and in her attempt to understand how they dealt with loss she has written an unforgettable book.

About the Author :
Catherine Merridale is the Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Bristol. She spent two years in Russia and the Ukraine researching Night of Stone, cahtting to people on trains, visiting people in their homes, recording interviews and bartering for information. The hazards of travel included hypothermia, harassment and over-whelming hospitatilty (including brain-destroying home-distilled spirits). Catherine recently returned to Russia, whre she spent time interviwing teachers and lecturers about the edudational difficulties in Russia, and how they are coping with a new generation of students who are questioning Russia's past and political ideology.

Review :
The spectre of death stalked Russia, Ukraine and the other territories of the former Soviet Union throughout the 20th century. The people of these countries were subjected to more violent and avoidable deaths than anywhere else on earth. Two world wars, one civil war, state-engineered famines and the horrors of the purges are only the most visible aspects of a continuing epic of destruction. Merridale takes on the massive task of conveying how the Russians coped with loss and bereavement on such a massive scale. Her grasp is considerable. From the ornate services of the pre-Revolutionary, Orthodox rites, through the utopianism of the Russian Marxist view of death, she takes the reader on a journey through every form of thinking with which Russians have dealt with the unthinkable. The Bolshevik view of public rituals, the bizarre pseudo-scientific theories of materialist resurrection (the reason both Lenin and Stalin were embalmed) - all are examined in this fascinating volume, truly epic in its scope and ambition.