Na Kudykinu Goru

"Na kudykinu goru: Odesskii roman" is a novel in Russian about the hopes and pains of emigration. It is set in the late 1970s, at the time of mass emigration from the Soviet Union. A diverse set of characters--luckless simple folks, expelled dissidents, victims of ethnic discrimination, and black-marketers escaping state prosecution - bid farewell to their beloved city and head for the West via Vienna and Rome. Their attempts at en-route adjustment to the free world are often painful and amusing at the same time. The structure of the novel is highly inventive. Chapters are alternately written by the author and one of his protagonists. The stories of the characters, hilarious and wrenching, are skillfully woven into this dual narrative. Born in Odessa, Emil Draitser is Professor of Russian at Hunter College in NYC and an award-winning author of ten volumes of artistic and scholarly prose. He emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1975, gaining many memorable experiences that later would compel him to write this novel. Among his most recent books are Shush! Growing up Jewish under Stalin and Stalin's Romeo Spy: The Remarkable Rise and Fall of the KGB's Most Daring Operative, both earning high critical acclaim.