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Stalin鈥檚 Barber

A Novel

By Paul M. Levitt, professor of English

Taylor Trade Publishing

Avraham Bahar leaves debt-ridden and depressed Albania to seek a better life in, ironically, Stalinist Russia. A professional barber, he curries favor with the Communist regime, ultimately being invited to become Stalin鈥檚 personal barber at the Kremlin, where he is entitled to live in a government house with other Soviet dignitaries. In the intrigue that follows, Avraham, now known as Razan, not only barbers Stalin (or so he thinks), but also the many Stalin look-alikes that the paranoid dictator circulates to thwart possible assassination attempts鈥攊ncluding a possible attempt from Razan himself.

鈥淪talin鈥檚 Barber is all that the great historical novels used to be鈥攅pic in scope, with powerful characterizations, visceral action and a blazingly intelligent authorial point of view. Here we meet鈥攁nd know鈥攖he chief players in the extraordinary centrifuge that was Stalin鈥檚 Soviet Union. The culture is revealed and flayed; the lives are displayed and understood鈥攖his is 鈥榞rand鈥� writing, in the sense of 鈥榞rand鈥� opera, from a man who is already a master playwright, and now deserves to be a world figure.鈥澨�

鈥�Frank Delaney, author of Ireland: A Novel, a New York Times bestseller

鈥淎 vivid, imaginative story rich in detailed characterisation which takes the reader on a dark journey laced with black humour into the heart of the USSR at the height of Stalin鈥檚 power. Levitt explores a terrifying world of lies, deceit and half truths; a world of party hacks, informers and secret police; a world where an innocent phrase, misplaced 鈥榡oke鈥� or misinterpreted glance leads to imprisonment, deportation, torture and murder. Against all the odds, the central character, a Jewish barber, retains his spirit of independence and dreams of 鈥榝reedom鈥� for himself and his extended family all of whom suffer at the hands of the State. However, when he is given the job of Stalin鈥檚 barber, he seems doomed to certain death. Every time he is summoned, he has to shave Stalin. But who is the man he shaves鈥攊s it really 鈥楾he Beloved Leader鈥� or a double? A disturbing, highly readable insight into the 鈥榥ightmare鈥� world of the Soviet state.鈥�

鈥�Martin Jenkins, former chief producer, British Broadcasting Corporation (Drama) and founding artistic director of the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool

鈥淢en will tell their barber things they wouldn鈥檛 tell their wives, and Stalin was no exception. In a novel as tantalizingly broad as the steppe and a plot as treacherous as the taiga, Paul M. Levitt penetrates to the Soviet heart of darkness. He weaves his tale around a question as dangerous as the razor wielded by the Great Leader鈥檚 talented barber鈥攚hat secrets do these two men share and who, in the end, really holds in his hands the power to change history?鈥�

鈥�Peter Kracht, University of Pittsburgh Press鈥ㄢ�ㄢ�˙arbers are traditionally also bloodletters.

鈥淭he twentieth century has had some spectacular meetings between haircutters and tyrants鈥擟harlie Chaplin鈥檚 being the most famous鈥攂ut here, the field of operations is even wider: from southeastern Europe to starving villages in Russia to doubles in the Kremlin. And just when you think any of it might be real, you turn a corner and meet Nikolai Gogol. A surreal ride.鈥�

鈥�Caryl Emerson, Princeton University

鈥淟evitt is ambitiously epic. . . . With equal parts comedy and tragedy, Levitt vividly illustrates the darkly humorous experience of life in a totalitarian state, where no one can be trusted and the law is removed from reason. . . . The novel soars when Levitt brings [all of] the strands together in the second half.鈥ㄢ�ㄢ�ㄢ�ㄢ�斕齈ublishers Weekly鈥ㄢ�ㄢ�═his fascinating novel is easy to admire . . . [it] captures [the] horror [of Stalin鈥檚 1930s Russia] and yet maintains an undercurrent of absurdist humor. . . . Levitt鈥檚 powerful narrative variously suggests Chaplin鈥檚听Great Dictator, Orwell鈥檚听Nineteen Eighty-Four, Voltaire鈥檚听Candide, Heller鈥檚听Catch-22听and Brecht鈥檚听Mother Courage, but remains an entirely original, entirely remarkable work of the imagination.鈥濃��

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