I've often wondered about the ethics of writing fictional accounts of real people, as Barnes does here with Russian composer Shostakovich (and previously Flaubert). I started reading this as biography - Barnes has certainly done his homework - but how would Shostakovich himself feel about the tormented character that emerges? Whatever, Shostakovich's real and imagined sufferings under the crazy Soviet system, recounted in telling hiccoughs, are compelling, whatever their provenance, and I was enthralled.
(Annabel Bedini - bwl 85 Summer 2017 ) |
