Sofia PetrovnaSofia Petrovna is Lydia Chukovskaya's fictional account of the Great Purge. Sofia is a Soviet Everywoman, a doctor's widow who works as a typist in a Leningrad publishing house. When her beloved son is caught up in the maelstrom of the purge, she joins the long lines of women outside the prosecutor's office, hoping against hope for good news. Confronted with a world that makes no moral sense, Sofia goes mad, a madness which manifests itself in delusions little different from the lies those around her tell every day to protect themselves. Sofia Petrovna offers a rare and vital record of Stalin's Great Purges. |
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afraid already Anna Grigorievna answered asked Sofia Petrovna began coat Comrade Timofeyev corridor crowd cult of personality Degtyarenko's wife desk director director's wife door eau de cologne elevator woman Erna Semyonovna everything eyes felt Frolenko Fyodor Ivanovich galoshes hand house manager husband iceboat Karpova kerosene Kiparisova Kolya and Alik Komsomol lady Lenin Leningrad letter Lipatov little girl looked Lydia Chukovskaya Mama meeting milling cutters morning Moscow mother Natalia Sergeyevna Natasha never newspaper night Nikolai Fyodorovich novella paper party secretary person Pravda primus stove prison prosecutor prosecutor's office publishing house Red Army saboteur Samizdat scarf Shpalernaya Street Sofia Petrovna put Sofia Petrovna took Soviet staircase Stakhanovite stood streetcar suddenly Sverdlovsk talk tell thing thought Sofia Petrovna trovna Tsvetkov turned typewriter typists Valya voice waiting walked wall newspaper wanted window women young Zakharov