Confessions of a Soviet alcoholic

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 14 February 2019

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1969, homeless Russian alcoholic Venedikt Yerofeev wrote a hugely popular book which was passed illegally from person to person. The book gave voice to a generation of Soviet intellectuals who were unable to fit into mainstream Soviet society. The author's friend poet Olga Sedakova shared her memories with Dina Newman.

Photo: Venedikt Yerofeev. Credit: Olga Sedakova archive.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.7	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:08.5	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:18.0	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
0:24.6	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.
0:29.7	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC
0:35.4	Sounds.
0:36.4	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:40.9	My name's Linda Davies and I commissioned
0:43.0	podcast for BBC Sounds.
0:45.0	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality,
0:49.0	featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:54.4	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
1:00.9	poltergeist, cricket and conspiracy theories, and that's just a few examples.
1:06.4	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC
1:11.6	Sounds. Hello, you're listening to the Witness History Podcast with me, Dina Neuman.
1:17.0	Today I'm taking you back to Soviet-era Russia and one of the most popular Sommer's
1:22.3	Dut books ever, an underground publication secretly copied
1:26.3	and distributed without approval from the Communist Party.
1:30.0	The book is called Moscow Stations.
1:33.0	Written by a homeless alcoholic Benedicti Rafe in 1969, it gave voice to the growing underclass of Soviet
1:40.9	dropouts.
	...

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