My Russian Journey

Fülszöveg

SANTHA RAMA RAU
Russian Journey
Curiosity and various assignments to re-
port on the Soviet Union took Santha
Rama Rau and her husband, Faubion
Bowers, to Russia for several months re-
cently. They were tourists with rather
extraordinary privileges, for they traveled
as a family with their young son and his
nurse; the fact that Faubion Bowers has a
serviceable command of the Russian lan-
guage made them independent of inter-
preters, and they were permitted much
more than the normal length of a tourist
stay.
Here is the account of their experience,
an intimate and revealing glimpse into
the everyday life of Soviet Russians.
Wherever they went—in Leningrad, Mos-
cow, Uzbekistan—the sight of an Indian
woman, a beautiful Negress, an American
man and a small boy in cowboy dress ex-
cited comment which more often than
not led to adventure. Strangers approached
them in restaurants and cafés. Mothers in
the park and vendors on the street entered
into... Tovább

Fülszöveg

SANTHA RAMA RAU
Russian Journey
Curiosity and various assignments to re-
port on the Soviet Union took Santha
Rama Rau and her husband, Faubion
Bowers, to Russia for several months re-
cently. They were tourists with rather
extraordinary privileges, for they traveled
as a family with their young son and his
nurse; the fact that Faubion Bowers has a
serviceable command of the Russian lan-
guage made them independent of inter-
preters, and they were permitted much
more than the normal length of a tourist
stay.
Here is the account of their experience,
an intimate and revealing glimpse into
the everyday life of Soviet Russians.
Wherever they went—in Leningrad, Mos-
cow, Uzbekistan—the sight of an Indian
woman, a beautiful Negress, an American
man and a small boy in cowboy dress ex-
cited comment which more often than
not led to adventure. Strangers approached
them in restaurants and cafés. Mothers in
the park and vendors on the street entered
into conversation, offered advice. Several
chance acquaintances led to friendships—
with a young engineer, a student of archi-
tecture, an actress, a playboy, and a "beez-
ness man" who pursued tourists as a gull
pursues a ship, for the pickings.
(Continued on back flap)
NO. 8742A
My
(Continued from front flap)
In such ways doors were opened to un-
derstanding. The Bowerses learned, by
participation, a great deal about the inner
world of the Soviet Union—how people
live, work, dress, eat, amuse themselves,
conduct their romances, and keep on
tolerable terms with their government. On
rare occasions the Bowerses were guests
in a Soviet home.
Interwoven with the personal narrative
is much highly informative comment on
the theater, art and personalities in Rus-
sia. In Leningrad and Moscow, where she
found constant reminders of the historic
and literary past, Miss Rama Rau sought
out the homes of Pushkin and Dostoyev-
sky and came upon some secrets of the
present. In Uzbekistan, which is offered
to tourists as a Soviet showplace, she saw
something of Russia's new program for
progress in operation. And here, among
a people bred to an ancient rhythm, among
the ruins of fabled Samarkand within
sight of the snows of Central Asia, she
sensed again the atmosphere that was
home to her.
My Russian Journey is a book without
pretensions, but its clear-eyed observations
cut through much that is confusing and
mysterious. It is Santha Rama Rau's gift
that she views life in terms of people.
And so, it may be, she comes closer to
many human truths than those who qual-
ify as experts in affairs of state. Certainly
she is an entertaining and instructive
guide.
Jacket design by Carol Harris Vissza