Kim Shegog<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Imagine a life devoted to navigating a labyrinth of doublespeak. Such is the existence of one<\/p>\n
young man, Sasha Parsky, in Paul M. Levitt\u2019s historical novel, The Denouncer<\/em>. Set under the<\/p>\n rule of Stalin, the novel examines the mental, physical, and spiritual costs of leading a double<\/p>\n life.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When two members of the OGPU (secret police) come to the Parsky farm to arrest his elderly<\/p>\n parents, denounced as \u201cexploiters and parasites,\u201d Sasha becomes enraged and kills the men.<\/p>\n Both he and his parents are stunned, looking to one another to explain how \u201cHe who had never<\/p>\n hurt another person, who had never caused his parents a moment\u2019s trouble from his birth in 1915<\/p>\n to this moment in 1935, had become a monster.\u201d Thus is the crux of the novel\u2014the duality of<\/p>\n monster and innocent inside us all.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n While he eludes an official conviction, Sasha remains the prime suspect for the murders. At<\/p>\n the behest of Major Filatov, chief of the local secret police, he is to offer his condolences to the<\/p>\n family members of the deceased, and he is appointed to the head of a secondary school in order<\/p>\n to spy on the former director. In his supervisory role, Sasha becomes both advisor and adversary,<\/p>\n implementing progressive policies, which ultimately lead to his condemnation. It becomes clear<\/p>\n the spy is spied on, and anyone and everyone in this small village may well function as a double<\/p>\n or even triple agent. There is no stronger instinct than survival, and the characters in this novel,<\/p>\n both men and women, and to some extent even the children, assume any role necessary to delay<\/p>\n persecution.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sasha\u2019s story is dark, yet there are moments of beauty and pleasure in his world\u2014a world in<\/p>\n which the lines of loyalty, trust, and madness are intertwined. In a scene evocative of The Last<\/p>\n Supper, Major Filatov intimates, \u201ceveryone among them had sold his soul, in fact, many times<\/p>\n over, and that there is no witness so dreadful, no accuser so terrible, as conscience.\u201d For these<\/p>\n men and women, there is no true freedom because they will never escape the persecution they<\/p>\n inflict on themselves. They have forfeited their very spirits, and they will pay accordingly.<\/p>\n As to the end, The Denouncer<\/em> comes to its natural close. Though somewhat bleak and<\/p>\n disheartening, there is no alternative. The curtain is drawn on each character\u2019s performance as all<\/p>\n were actors on a revolving stage. Nevertheless, I found myself captivated by and appreciative of<\/p>\n the somber aesthetic inherent in the final scenes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Do not be intimated by a lack of knowledge of Stalin or his regime. Although I will admit<\/p>\n to having known little of the Soviet society during this period, Levitt\u2019s writing is fluid and<\/p>\n immersing and Sasha\u2019s story engaging and eerily relevant. At the forefront of the novel are the<\/p>\n issues of power, politics, and patriotism: concepts we grapple with on a daily basis. Levitt leaves<\/p>\n us to question our choices, our actions, and our world. Sasha claims, \u201cIn this country, trust is<\/p>\n impossible.\u201d Are we to believe the same? It\u2019s certainly difficult not to, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Levitt, Paul M. The Denouncer<\/em>. Taylor Trade Publishing, 2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kim Shegog Imagine a life devoted to navigating a labyrinth of doublespeak. Such is the existence of one young man, Sasha Parsky, in Paul M. Levitt\u2019s historical novel, The Denouncer. Set under the rule of Stalin, the novel examines the mental, physical, and spiritual costs of leading a double life. When two members […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":540,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-written-by"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/nightowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/nightowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/nightowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/nightowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/540"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/nightowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/nightowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":440,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/nightowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438\/revisions\/440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/nightowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/nightowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/nightowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}