"Los canales que soñó Stalin", Lola Escudero, Boletín Sociedad Geográfica Española, 56, 2017: https://sge.org/publicaciones/numero-de-boletin/boletin-56/los-canales-sono-stal...

Engineers of the Soul is a thoroughly enjoyable piece of nonfiction about writers in the Soviet era and the strictures they faced: Westerman focuses on Konstantin Paustovsky but also offers details on the lives of Maxim Gorky and Andrei Platonov, among others. I was especially happy to read a bit about irrigation in the former Soviet Union.

(There's more about Engineers of the Soul on my blog, here.) ( )

I feel compelled to write a review (I usually just rate my books) as I, unlike the other reviewer so far, have found this to be a very tight book. The life of Konstantin Paustovsky provides its narrative backbone, and the disappearing bay at Kara Bogaz - its focal point. At various nodes along the way, where Paustovsky's narrative intertwines or intersects with the stories of other Soviet writers, Westerman elaborates on those writers as well, and how their own lives and writing are affected by the narrative of Soviet literary policy. There's no denying that this policy ruined some of the Soviet Union's finest writers, such as Andrey Platonov, and left others writing for the desk drawer. What makes this book highly unusual is its theme of despots and massive waterworks. I'm not sure yet that I'm entirely convinced, but I also think that Westerman is onto something! ( )

A good attempt to give us a contemporary perspective on Russian writers active during the Stalinist period and a little beyond. Western interest is often too focused on dissidents and expatriates rather than those who continued to work in Russia and had great popularity. But it suffers from some of the usual set backs. Writers are always seen as struggling against the political system and trying to give hidden subversive messages in their work. This may or may not be true but what is overlooked is that they are in simple terms Russian patriots. As writers from all cultures do they are reflecting the life they see around them. Many of the writers were apolitical. Is is not necessary to try to find a triumphant, McCarthy style anti-communist message in everything.

Mr Westerman took an imaginative route in visiting the remote site on the Eastern shore of the Caspian Sea that was the location of one of Paustovsky's books. A good attempt at intepretive pyschogeography. He also did well in talking to living relatives in a sympathetic and non-intrusive way. But he sometimes gets a little lost in the various by-ways he takes and though not necessarily needing a neat conclusion the book in the end seems to lack an overall purpose. ( )

Jullie zijn de “ ingenieurs van de ziel” zei Stalin tegen een groep schrijvers op een avond bij Maxim Gorki thuis. Zij moesten meehelpen zijn beleid te verwezenlijken. Bekende schrijvers stonden onder censuur en verheerlijkten de bouw van kanalen en stuwdammen. Echte ingenieurs moesten de loop der rivieren omkeren en dwangarbeiders voerden de werken uit, waarbij velen het leven lieten. Het boek ‘De baai van Kara Bogaz’ van Konstantin Paustovski staat centraal, waarin de zoutwinning in deze baai in Turkmenistan beschreven wordt, één van de prestigeprojecten van Stalins eerste vijfjarenplan. Dankzij dit boek slaagde hij erin Stalin te overleven, wat niet gezegd kan worden van tientallen andere schrijvers, dikwijls vrienden. Met name Andrej Platonov wenste zijn ziel niet te verkopen, hij zou de zuiveringen tijdens de jaren dertig overleven, maar zijn zoon werd tot jarenlange dwangarbeid veroordeeld. Westerman reist zelf naar de baai en ziet, dat er een grote ecologische ramp heeft plaatsgevonden, het is een verdroogd stuk woestijn.
De lezer wordt meegevoerd naar de ontknoping : “ het duel tussen schrijvers en waterbouwers dat de val van het Sovjet-imperium (1917-1991) inluidt.” De betrokkenheid van een aantal belangrijke mensen in de sovjet-literatuur bij het mislukken van enkele waterbouwkundige projecten wordt hier na een grondige studie briljant neergezet. ( )