"How extraordinary it is that compassion and tenderness may flourish in the cruellest conditions; how stubbornly and bravely people survive them. This is not a depressing book but an inspiriting and encouraging one." -Doris Lessing

"The sixteen life stories are riveting. . . . testimony to the complexity of the human spirit[,] to miracles of survival and endurance in the most hellish of conditions. . . . Till My Tale Is Told remind[s] us of the importance of remembrance and testimony about this particularly brutal chapter of human history."
-The Women's Review of Books

Arrest, interrogation, imprisonment, trial and sentencing, transport, labor camps, internal exile, sometimes release, often followed by re-arrest and re-imprisonment and, for those who outlived Stalin, eventual reprieve and rehabilitation these are the outlines of the experiences recorded by 16 courageous Russian women whose moving testimonies, most of them written in secret and at great personal risk, are presented here.

2000 Heldt Prize for Best Translation, AWSS

About the Author

Simeon Vilensky, a former political prisoner, a writer, and a poet, is founder of Vozvrashchenie, an organization in Moscow dedicated to preserving and publishing testimonies of Stalin's victims and aiding camp survivors.

Reviews

Till My Tale Is Told is a translation and condensation of a Russian work published in the Soviet Union in 1989. Intended to be the first in series of collections, this volume was devoted to women's memoirs because they offered a humanly approachable introduction to a horrific and alien world. Many of the contributors knew each other, at least slightly, and the work gives some feeling of being a collaborative effort. Only a few selections describe the entire experience of arrest, interrogation, and serving the sentence. Some tell of just a single episode or two, while others consist of poetry. Particularly interesting are the prisoners' attempts to understand the catastrophe that had overtaken them. Read consecutively, the collection is a moving and disturbing experience. In most cases, however, instructors will want to assign just one or two selections in classes. Researchers will want to consult the Russian version or the original manuscripts, which are available in Moscow and Amsterdam. Each selection has a useful biographical introduction, and the translations are all excellent. All in all, a very useful addition to the English-language sources on the history of Soviet repression. All levels.

-- J. Zimmerman * University of Pittsburgh , 2000apr CHOICE. *



Book Information
ISBN 9780253214768
Author Simeon S. Vilensky
Format Paperback
Page Count 376
Imprint Indiana University Press
Publisher Indiana University Press