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Back A Train to Moscow: A Novel Save as PDF
Chapters (59)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  3. DEDICATION
  4. CONTENTS
  5. ACT 1 IVANOVO
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. ACT 2 MOSCOW
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. 21
  28. 22
  29. 23
  30. 24
  31. 25
  32. 26
  33. 27
  34. ACT 3 LENINGRAD
  35. 28
  36. 29
  37. 30
  38. 31
  39. 32
  40. 33
  41. 34
  42. 35
  43. 36
  44. 37
  45. ACT 4 IVANOVO-LENINGRAD
  46. 38
  47. 39
  48. 40
  49. 41
  50. 42
  51. 43
  52. 44
  53. 45
  54. 46
  55. 47
  56. 48
  57. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  58. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
  59. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

She hasn’t written to him, not a single letter. She feels that acting, like distance, is building walls to separate them even further.

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Moscow is full of things Sasha has never seen: hard salami and chocolate candies in bright wrappers, silk scarves and cakes adorned with pink cream roses, nylon see-through stockings and whimsical bottles of bitter-smelling perfume. There are also open exhibits of modern art labeled “cosmopolitan,” which were banned only a few years earlier. There are unofficial concerts by a young bard Volodya Vysotsky, who often comes to their dorm to sing about struggle, angst, and love while they sit on the kitchen floor, mesmerized and quiet, drinking teakettles of young sour wine Georgians sell at the nearby railroad station. There is a film called The Magnificent Seven playing in two central theaters, the first movie from America that ever made it across their borders.

Sveta, Lara, and Sasha sink into their seats as the galloping horses on the screen deliver American recklessness straight into their waiting hearts. After the movie ends, they walk out silently, filled with the joy of color and the thrill of danger, so different from the monochrome monotony of their own films. Although only three of the magnificent seven survive at the end, Sasha feels relieved that one of them, Chico, goes back to the village and the girl who loves him. The night air of the Moscow streets seems charged with energy, filling her chest with a lightness, transporting her back to the innocent times of her life in Ivanovo when she felt safe, loved, and protected by Andrei.

It is 1960, and to afford the benefits of what their teachers call “the political thaw,” Sveta, Lara, and Sasha participate in the mass scenes at the Vakhtangov Theatre, where they are paid seven rubles and fifty kopecks a performance. They can always count on Gorky’s Summerfolk and The Lower Depths, and Sasha’s singing voice gets her into a Gypsy choir in Tolstoy’s The Living Corpse, but they know that the mass scenes in movies pay considerably more. They also know that their school strictly prohibits first-year students from working in film, since their professors see motion pictures as a detrimental influence on the students’ stage training.

The three of them hold a discussion about the possible repercussions of challenging the ban, which ends with Sveta’s decree that The Magnificent Seven, which they have already seen three times, as well as the cosmopolitan art exhibits and Vysotsky unofficial concerts, are sufficient reasons to break the school rules. Sveta gives them permission to sign up for the crowd scenes at the Mosfilm studio and tells them to hide in the back so as not to be caught on-screen.

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