At the Cliff's Edge of the Narrative

9 hrs. 58 min.

Language Russian

Author Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Narrator Leonid Borodin

Many years ago, this book (1914–1922) was conceived in twenty “Nodes,” each one built according to its own principle. During continuous work beginning in 1969, the material dictated otherwise. The focal point shifted to the February Revolution. Even “April of the Seventeenth” already reveals a clear picture of the February regime’s doom—and in Russia there is no other decisive, organized, dynamic force, except the Bolsheviks: the October coup, already from April, takes shape as inevitable. After April, the situation changes rather not qualitatively, but quantitatively. In addition, the volume of what has been written and my age compel me to interrupt the narrative. But for those subsequent Nodes I nevertheless offer the reader a digest of the main events that cannot be overlooked if one were to write in full detail. (For the year 1917 they are developed in considerable detail, with an overview of opinions as well; then—schematically.)

1. August 1914 (narrated by Vyacheslav Gerasimov) 2. October 1916 (narrated by Vladimir Samoylov) 3. March of the Seventeenth (narrated by Evgeny Ternovsky) 4. April 1917 (narrated by Yury Zaborovsky, Evgeny Ternovsky) 5. At the Cliff's Edge of the Narrative