Black Tea: Shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Christopher Bland Award 2020 Contributor(s): Morris, Stephen (Author) |
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ISBN: 1910461385 ISBN-13: 9781910461389 Publisher: Claret Press OUR PRICE: $15.19 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: September 2019 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Travel | Russia - History | Russia & The Former Soviet Union - Political Science | World - Russian & Former Soviet Union |
Physical Information: 0.51" H x 5.25" W x 8" (0.57 lbs) 222 pages |
Themes: - Cultural Region - Russia |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Christopher Bland Prize 2020 Inspired by the artful prose of Primo Levi, Raynor Winn and Deborah Levy, Black Tea is a book about Russia that starts in London at the height of the Cold War and ends on a beach in Crimea forty years later. Morris combines elements of his life forged during the breakup of the Soviet Union to create a memoir based on reflections and memory, and a narration that starts in England leads the reader on a journey through Russia from the White Sea to the Caucasus. The book comes to terms with the central lacuna in twentieth-century thought: the tacit support for communism by Western intellectuals. It describes the author's father's support of Russia and his activism on behalf of nuclear disarmament in the 1970s, and contrasts this with his grandmother's stark warnings of the evils of socialism, and his own ambiguous position growing up in the suburbs outside London, a position that was for many years dominated, in spirit, by a huge military map of the Soviet Union tacked to his bedroom wall. Highly informed with a unique perspective, Black Tea chronicles the changing geography, politics and personality of Russia over his thirty years there. A reflection and a travelogue, Steve Morris hauntingly explores love and identity, commitment and family. |
Contributor Bio(s): Morris, Stephen: - Stephen Morris was born in London in 1964. He went to school in Watford, and later studied at the Royal Academy of Art. Over the years he has had many jobs, including labouring on building sites, driving delivery vans, and working in a foundry. In 1989 he met and married Lyuba Privizientseva. |