Peltse and Pentameron

In these two novellas, Volodymyr Dibrova tells the story of how the Soviet system was sustained by individuals who never truly believed in it, but simply lacked the courage to oppose it.

Peltse portrays the formation of an average apparatchik. Both funny and alarming, it provides a psychological portrait of an individual trapped in a system he simultaneously dislikes and depends upon for survival. Pentameron tells the story of one day in the life of five colleagues at a Soviet research institute. Each is dissatisfied, yet all are trapped in and by a system that has taken away their ability to act decisively.

"These two short novels by Volodymyr Dibrova, one of the best prose stylists in Ukraine today, together form an extraordinarily complete view of the lives of the oppressed and their oppressors during Soviet Communism's waning days." --Los Angeles Times

"He has an uncanny grasp of the fears and passions of his characters, and brings them to life with comic genius . . . Dibrova's characters, however frustrated and trapped by the State-subsidized limitations, are nevertheless extremely engaging, and in their dilemmas we recognize our own" --Harvard Review