Books, Arts & Manners: Holy Mackerel!

Lenin Lives! by Gregory O’Brien (Stein & Day, 164 pp., $10.95)

Moscow (AP)—Taking what may be the greatest political gamble of the twentieth century, Soviet officials here today claimed they have performed a medical feat of sensational proportions: the resurrection of Russian revolutionary leader V. I. Lenin, who died exactly sixty years ago.” So starts Gregory O’Brien’s titillating first novel, whose story unfolds day by day, for 31 days, entirely through media reports. UPI is quick with its backgrounder. “. . . In the Soviet Union . . . Lenin is a combination of Abraham Lincoln, Muhammad Ali, and Robert Redford. . . . Lenin was actually born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov in the Volga River town of Simbirsk a few months after the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war in 1870. …” A few days later the “man called Lenin” is trotted out. “ I’m Peter Jennings. . . . We switch you live to ABC Moscow correspondent . . .’ ‘This is Pierre Salinger. The crowd below our scaffolding . . . has been gathering for several hours. . . .’ ” The New York Times detects a hopeful sign for peace in the spontaneous fashion in which “the man they call Lenin” is greeted by the Russian people. “Perhaps this drama, the end of which can only be known to Soviet leadership, will have the unintended consequence of understanding at the human level. We hope so.” But Ronald Reagan, always less serious than the Times, joshes the press: “And you folks used to kid me about Bedtime for Bonzo.” In the House, the Speaker recognizes “the gentleman from New York,” who comments: “The President’s quip was amusing, perhaps, but hardly the kind of serious leadership that would capitalize on the story for all it’s worth.”

PL

About the Author

Priscilla L. Buckley

Featured Tags

Lenin Lives! by Gregory O’Brien (Stein & Day, 164 pp., $10.95)

Moscow (AP)—Taking what may be the greatest political gamble of the twentieth century, Soviet officials here today claimed they have performed a medical feat of sensational proportions: the resurrection of Russian revolutionary leader V. I. Lenin, who died exactly sixty years ago.” So starts Gregory O’Brien’s titillating first novel, whose story unfolds day by day, for 31 days, entirely through media reports. UPI is quick with its backgrounder. “. . . In the Soviet Union . . . Lenin is a combination of Abraham Lincoln, Muhammad Ali, and Robert Redford. . . . Lenin was actually born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov in the Volga River town of Simbirsk a few months after the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war in 1870. …” A few days later the “man called Lenin” is trotted out. “ I’m Peter Jennings. . . . We switch you live to ABC Moscow correspondent . . .’ ‘This is Pierre Salinger. The crowd below our scaffolding . . . has been gathering for several hours. . . .’ ” The New York Times detects a hopeful sign for peace in the spontaneous fashion in which “the man they call Lenin” is greeted by the Russian people. “Perhaps this drama, the end of which can only be known to Soviet leadership, will have the unintended consequence of understanding at the human level. We hope so.” But Ronald Reagan, always less serious than the Times, joshes the press: “And you folks used to kid me about Bedtime for Bonzo.” In the House, the Speaker recognizes “the gentleman from New York,” who comments: “The President’s quip was amusing, perhaps, but hardly the kind of serious leadership that would capitalize on the story for all it’s worth.”