A Soviet Journey Explained

A Soviet Journey is a 1978 travelogue by South African socialist Alex La Guma.^[1] Writing in the early 90s, critic Roger Field described the book as one of the under-examined works from La Guma's corpus, because of his reputation as a fiction writer first, and the political nature of Western academics commenting on a book title "Soviet" during the Cold War.

The novel has significant references and comparisons to the works and travels of Ernest Hemingway.^[2] The book also reflects substantially on the influence of other works of literary modernism on his own writing.^[3]

Biographical context

La Guma's trip also has ties to other parts of his life: when La Guma, was a child, his father had taken a trip to the Soviet Union, and La Guma knew both mentors contemporaries from the anti-apartheid community in South Africa who had visited the Soviet Union.

Further reading

• Book: Popescu, Monica. South African Literature Beyond the Cold War. 2010-05-14. Palgrave Macmillan. 9781137071859. en.

Notes and References

1. Field. Roger. 1994-01-01. Fellow Travellers in an Antique Land: La Guma and Uncle Lenin. Social Dynamics. 20. 1. 93–120. 10.1080/02533959408458563. 0253-3952.
2. Book: Alex la Guma: A Literary & Political Biography. 1 June 2011. Jacana Media. 978-1-77009-888-6. 208. Martin Klammer. Blanche La Guma.
3. Book: The Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Fiction. 8 December 2010. John Wiley & Sons. 978-1-4051-9244-6. 1181.