European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 18, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse Kab and private Ivan Shonkin by Christopher s. Wren new York times Hen Vladimir Voinovich was summoned for a Chat with the Kab Security police in May 1975, one agent with intellectual pretensions inquired How the writer went about his creative labors. I explained that i write a few pages and then i hide them Voinovich wryly recalled. Then i write a few More and hide those too. That is my general interrogators were not amused. They warned him against publishing in the West and slipped him an apparently poisoned cigarette that left him ill or some Days. But the 45-year-old satirist s appetite for pricking the pomposity around him has not flagged. There is humor in soviet life he said. You Only have to have a sense of humor so you can recognize that gift has made Voinovich he most popu Lar unofficial writer in be country. His novel the life and extraordinary adventures of private Ivan Chon Ken was an underground hit Here Long before it was published in he United states this year. After publication of a russian language edition in Paris a couple of years ago. Travelling russians smuggled Home copies for circulation in the More elite circles. Fans Are said to include at least one soviet general and some ranking Kab officials. Other readers have typed out extracts and circulated them secretly to friends. The novel is the chronicle of a red army misfit who is detailed on the eve of world War ii to guard a plane that crash landed on a Backwater collective farm though he is promptly forgotten by his unit he has vowed to quit his Post Only when properly relieved. Private Shonkin mops up a detachment of secret policemen who arrive in arrest him for Deser Tion. It lakes a Marc loudly incompetent army regi ment to capture but never quite defeat him. American readers May find the novel a soviet catch Zzz or Good Soldier schweik but it is More devastating for russians. With an ear for fatuous ideological language Voinovic Hhas lampooned some soviet sacred cows through his reluctant red army heroes fanatical milkmaid quack agronomists and Fum bling party officials. Nine tenths of the people i now who have read it Are delighted one soviet intellectual reported. It is not Only humorous not Only Well constructed. It is also a deep analysis of our social Voinovich seems an unlikely subversive. He is Short and husky with a Shock 01 maturely Gray hair and a sly Grin. In a country where writers arc paid for describing the ecstasies of physical toil but not for trying it themselves Voinovich has impeccable proletarian credentials. He worked on a collective farm As a youngster held a factory Job when he was 16 years ild served four years As a Soldier and later Laboured in Railroad and construction he first tried to become a writer a Moscow literary Institute turned him Down twice. Voinovich suspects that it was because his name sounded jewish it is serbian. I Don t feel badly about he said. If i had entered 1 would have had prob lems with the authorities much dissident Voinovich there is humor in soviet though Voinovich insists that he is apolitical the combination of his sense of humor and conscience brought him official Disfavour in the late 1960 s. After he came out in support of arrested dissidents two successful plays were removed from Heaters and he found it hard to get further writing published. In 1974 he was ousted from the writers Union losing the right to earn his living As a writer. His All from official Grace was attributed to a letter defending Aleksandr i. Solzhenitsyn. Voinovich thinks the final Straw May have been his Tongue in Cheek letter o Boris d. Pankin head of he new soviet copyright Agency. To properly protect soviet writers from Western encroachment Voinovich proposed that Moscow s prisons with the necessary guards and police dogs be placed at your Voinovich s letters to officialdom have been a voted Here nearly As much As his More formal works. The writer has recently contemplated a letter to the supreme soviet the nominal Parlia ment asking that dissidents dismissed from their jobs be awarded the status of invalids of the Ideo logical loss of his official status As a writer lays him open to potential charges of parasitism or not being gainfully employed. Even so Voinovich has found the creative Freedom worthwhile. Before i was writing with the Hope that it might be published Here he said. Now i Don t and it is much among his projects Are further adventures of Pri vate Shonkin in a format that he describes As a combination of realism lyricism satire and fairy the character is based on someone from his old army unit but Voinovich has also reached Back to retrieve the classic hero of russian Folk Litera Ture the Sage fool. The heroes of airy tales Are our most popular heroes and or that reason my hero is also named Ivan Voinovich said. At first Glince it is simply stupidity do you understand but in act the stupidity that everyone laughs at is not really stupidity when you examine it. My heroes not Only Shonkin but others too Are very natural people who All into unnatural popularity of private Shonkin not Only Al Home but increasingly in the West has so far worked to his advantage. For the soviet authorities it is very important whether a Book is successful or not because hey cannot form their own the writer said. They have to ask what kind of Book itis and that is a sort of defense or in 1977 the stars and stripes Page is
