Keeping the Flame

The Guest from the Future: Anna Akhmatova and Isaiah Berlin, by Gyorgy Dalos, translated by Antony Wood (Farrar, Straus, 256 pp., $13)

THAT all-night conversation in Leningrad haunts one’s imagination. Every aspect of it is charged with meaning, not least that it took place during the Christmas season of 1945, which coincided with the beginning of the Cold War. In this elegant and concentrated book, György Dalos, novelist and literary critic, a Hungarian fluent in Russian, has the equipment to explore it in depth.

About the Author

Jeffrey Hart

Jeffrey Hart is a contributor to National Review.

The Guest from the Future: Anna Akhmatova and Isaiah Berlin, by Gyorgy Dalos, translated by Antony Wood (Farrar, Straus, 256 pp., $13)

THAT all-night conversation in Leningrad haunts one’s imagination. Every aspect of it is charged with meaning, not least that it took place during the Christmas season of 1945, which coincided with the beginning of the Cold War. In this elegant and concentrated book, György Dalos, novelist and literary critic, a Hungarian fluent in Russian, has the equipment to explore it in depth.