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  • Russian Journal by Andrea Lee book cover
  • Russian Journal by Andrea Lee book cover
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Russian Journal

by Andrea Lee

Everyday life in Soviet-era Moscow and Leningrad

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Awards & Recognition

  • Award recognition

    Winner of the Jean Stein Award

    Winner of the Jean Stein Award

  • Critical praise

    Praise from The Washington Post Book World

    Praise for the book highlights Lee’s ability to convey place and atmosphere.

AlbakiReads Editorial

Everyday life in Soviet-era Moscow and Leningrad

Andrea Lee’s account draws on the ten months she spent in Moscow and Leningrad while her husband pursued doctoral study. The book centers on her daily experience as an expatriate in Soviet culture and on exchanges with journalists, diplomats, and Soviet contemporaries. Its subject is both personal and historical: an outsider’s encounters provide the frame for observing life in the Soviet Union during the period of her stay. The journal format, reflected in the title, places those encounters and observations at the heart of the book.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in personal accounts of life in the Soviet Union.
  • Readers exploring travel writing about Moscow and Leningrad.
  • Readers interested in cultural encounters involving journalists, diplomats, and Soviet contemporaries.

Themes

Expatriate lifeSoviet cultureMoscow and LeningradCross-cultural encounters

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

"A subtly crafted reflection of both the bleak and golden shadings of Russian life . . . Its tones belong more to the realm of poetry than journalism." -The New York Times Book Review

At age twenty-five, Andrea Lee joined her husband, a Harvard doctoral candidate in Russian history, for his eight months' study at Moscow State University and an additional two months in Leningrad. Published to enormous critical acclaim in 1981, Russian Journal is the award-winning author's penetrating, vivid account of her everyday life as an expatriate in Soviet culture, chronicling her fascinating exchanges with journalists, diplomats, and her Soviet contemporaries. The winner of the Jean Stein Award from the National Academy of Arts and Letters-and the book that launched Lee's career as a writer-Russian Journal is a beautiful and clear-eyed travel-writing classic.

"[Lee] takes us wherever she is, conveying a feeling of place and atmosphere that is the mark of real talent."
-The Washington Post Book World

"A book of very great charm . . . [Lee] records what she saw and heard with unassuming delicacy and exactness."
-Newsweek
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