A Soviet Journey is a 1978 travelogue by South African socialist Alex La Guma.[1] Writing in the early 90s, critic Roger Field described the book as one of the under-examined works from La Guma's corpus, because of his reputation as a fiction writer first, and the political nature of Western academics commenting on a book title "Soviet" during the Cold War.[1]

A Soviet Journey
First edition (publ. Progress Publishers
AuthorAlex La Guma
SubjectSoviet Union, Travel
Published1978
PublisherProgress Publishers
Publication placeSouth African
OCLC6200549

The novel has significant references and comparisons to the works and travels of Ernest Hemingway.[2] The book also reflects substantially on the influence of other works of literary modernism on his own writing.[3]

Biographical context

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La Guma's trip also has ties to other parts of his life: when La Guma, was a child, his father had taken a trip to the Soviet Union, and La Guma knew both mentors contemporaries from the anti-apartheid community in South Africa who had visited the Soviet Union.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Field, Roger (1994-01-01). "Fellow Travellers in an Antique Land: La Guma and Uncle Lenin". Social Dynamics. 20 (1): 93–120. doi:10.1080/02533959408458563. ISSN 0253-3952.
  2. ^ Martin Klammer; Blanche La Guma (1 June 2011). Alex la Guma: A Literary & Political Biography. Jacana Media. p. 208. ISBN 978-1-77009-888-6.
  3. ^ The Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Fiction. John Wiley & Sons. 8 December 2010. p. 1181. ISBN 978-1-4051-9244-6.

Further reading

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