The Line (2010) is the second novel by Olga Grushin, a Russian-American author who currently lives in the United States. Although her native language is Russian, Grushin has adopted English as her literary language, composing The Line in English.
The novel depicts the formation of a line in an unnamed city resembling Soviet-era Moscow. The characters wait for over a year to buy tickets to a concert conducted by the fictional composer Igor Selinsky, expected to visit his native country after decades abroad. In a historical note, Grushin explains that she “borrowed freely from three different periods of Soviet history: the repression of Stalin’s 1930s, the hopefulness of Khrushchev’s Thaw (late 1950s-…
1718 words
Citation: Hansen, Julie. "The Line". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 October 2011 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34200, accessed 21 November 2024.]
