"She burst across the revolutionary sky like a blazing meteor, dazzling all in her path," Trotsky wrote. For the poet Boris Pasternak, she was Lara, the heroine of his novel Doctor Zhivago.
Commissar, revolutionary fighter, espionage agent, journalist, Larisa Reisner (1895–1926) was a model for the 'new woman' of the Russian Revolution, and one of its most popular and brilliant writers, whose works were published in mass editions and read by millions. In this sweeping biography, Cathy Porter sets her life against the backdrop of the world-shaking events of 1917. Drawing on material recently released from the Soviet archives, Porter tells Reisner's story through the memories of those close to her, her own voluminous writings, and her six books—published for the first time together with this biography.
Publication date: November 17, 2023
List of Figures
Timeline
Introduction
1 Childhood and Exile
2 Student Life
3 Poets and War
4 In Petrograd
5 Red Kronstadt
6 Bolshevik Russia
7 ‘Unforgettable 1918’
8 Svyazhsk
9 Reds and Whites
10 From Moscow to the Caspian
11 Rabfaks and Commissars
12 Afghanistan
13 The New Culture
14 Berlin and Hamburg
15 Across Workers’ Russia
16 Seifullina and Alyosha
17 Germany and China
18 ‘How Extraordinary to Be Alive’
19 Afterlife
Appendix: Figures
Bibliography
Index
“[Porter’s] book is a staggering feat of scholarship and deserves a place with the best revolutionary biographies.”
—Duncan Bowie, Chartist
