When Russia was in the throes of Joseph Stalin's campaign for the forced collectivization of Soviet agriculture, a young boy named Pavlik Morozov informed the OGPU (now called the KGB) that his father was an enemy of the regime. As a result, Pavlik's father was arrested and disappeared in a Soviet concentration camp. Enemies of the party later killed the boy, whereupon people proclaimed him their hero. Informer 001 is the first exhaustive, secret, independent study of the Morozov affair and is Yuri Druzhnikov's search for the truth about his life, death, and the perpetuation of his legacy. Druzhnikov examined documents, visited museums, and interviewed virtually everyone who knew Morozov during his short lifetime. In book after book, he discovered inconsistencies in every fact, from where Morozov was born to how old he was at the time of his death. Photographs of the hero, when compared, turned out to be of different people. Historical archives contained no documents of Morozov. Memorial museums displayed no personal relics; instead they contained pictures, books, and newspaper clippings. Attempts by Druzhnikov to interview living witnesses were met with resistance - he was even followed constantly. The subject of Pavlik Morozov was "officially untouchable". As Druzhnikov pieced together the story about Morozov's life, death, and legacy from interviews, books, court documents, and newspaper reports, it became clear that the campaign to keep Morozov a hero was centrally directed. Informer hero number 001, as Morozov came to be known, remained a fearful reminder to all: to those who inform, and those who become the victims of denunciations. Informer 001 offers Western readers astep-by-step detective story, and at the same time gives a unique glimpse into the behind-the-scenes operations of Soviet political history.

As the central figure in Russian literature, Alexander Pushkin (1799u1837) has been claimed by nearly every political faction, right and left, in Russian cultural politics over the past two centuries, culminating in his official canonization under the Soviet regime. In Prisoner of Russia, Yuri Druzhnikov analyzes the distortions and misrepresentations of Pushkin's cultural appropriation by focusing on Pushkin's attempts at emigration and his attitudes toward Russia and Western Europe.Druzhnikov's semi-biographical narrative concentrates on Pushkin's attempts to leave Russia after his graduation from the Lyceum, through his period of exile, until his early death in a duel in 1837. The matter of emigration from Russia was a politically charged issue well before 1917; witness the hostile reception of all of Turgenev's novels from Fathers and Sons on. The emigrU artist's cultural context is often used to assess his authenticity and stature as seen in the Western examples of Henry James, T.S. Eliot, or James Joyce. Druzhnikov sharply criticizes the omnipresent and reductive tendency in Russia (and the West) to define Russian cultural figures in terms of absolute essences and ideologies and to ignore the ambivalences that in fact help to define a writer's singularity. In the larger view, he argues, it is these that explain the variety and complexity of Russian culture.Druzhnikov's multidisciplinary approach combines literary and political history, with critical commentary arranged in chronological sequence. His interpretive apparatus ranges widely through nineteenth- and twentieth-century history, and provides the necessary intellectual context for nonspecialist readers. He also avoids the massive accumulation of trivial detail characteristic of so much Pushkinology. This accessible, valuable exercise in cultural history will be of interest to Slavic scholars and students, cultural historians, and general readers interested in Russian literature and culture.

When Russia was in the throes of Joseph Stalin's campaign for the forced collectivization of Soviet agriculture, a young boy named Pavlik Morozov informed the OGPU (later called the KGB) that his father was an enemy of the regime. As a result, Pavlik's father was arrested and disappeared in a Soviet concentration camp. Enemies of the party later killed the boy, whereupon people proclaimed him a hero. After that, Pavlik Morozov's glory surpassed the fame of many Russian heroes. Hundreds of works have been published about the boy in various genres; his portrait has graced galleries, postcards, and postage stamps; ships and libraries have been dedicated in his honor.

Informer 001 is the first independent study of the Morozov affair. Yuri Druzhnikov examined documents, visited museums, and interviewed everyone who knew Morozov during his short lifetime. In book after book, he discovered inconsistencies in every fact, from where Morozov was born to how old he was at the time of his death.

As Druzhnikov pieced together the story about Morozov's life, death, and legacy, it became clear that the campaign to keep Morozov a hero was centrally directed. Informer hero number 001 remained a fearful reminder to all; to those who inform, and those who become the victims of denunciations. Informer 001 offers Western readers a unique glimpse into the behind-the-scenes operations of Soviet political history and will be fascinating for the general public, as well as for sociologists, historians, and Russian studies specialists.

As the central figure in Russian literature, Alexander Pushkin (1799u1837) has been claimed by nearly every political faction, right and left, in Russian cultural politics over the past two centuries, culminating in his official canonization under the Soviet regime. In "Prisoner of Russia," Yuri Druzhnikov analyzes the distortions and misrepresentations of Pushkin's cultural appropriation by focusing on Pushkin's attempts at emigration and his attitudes toward Russia and Western Europe. Druzhnikov's semi-biographical narrative concentrates on Pushkin's attempts to leave Russia after his graduation from the Lyceum, through his period of exile, until his early death in a duel in 1837. The matter of emigration from Russia was a politically charged issue well before 1917; witness the hostile reception of all of Turgenev's novels from "Fathers and Sons" on. The emigru artist's cultural context is often used to assess his authenticity and stature as seen in the Western examples of Henry James, T.S. Eliot, or James Joyce. Druzhnikov sharply criticizes the omnipresent and reductive tendency in Russia (and the West) to define Russian cultural figures in terms of absolute essences and ideologies and to ignore the ambivalences that in fact help to define a writer's singularity. In the larger view, he argues, it is these that explain the variety and complexity of Russian culture. Druzhnikov's multidisciplinary approach combines literary and political history, with critical commentary arranged in chronological sequence. His interpretive apparatus ranges widely through nineteenth- and twentieth-century history, and provides the necessary intellectual context for nonspecialist readers. He also avoids the massive accumulation of trivial detail characteristic of so much Pushkinology. This accessible, valuable exercise in cultural history will be of interest to Slavic scholars and students, cultural historians, and general readers interested in Russian literature and culture.