Commissariat of Enlightenment

<p>Russia 1910. Leo Tolstoy lies dying in Astapovo a remote railway station. Members of the press from around the world have descended upon this sleepy hamlet to record his passing for a public suddenly ravenous for celebrity news. They have been joined by a film company whose cinematographer Nikolai Gribshin is capturing the extraordinary scene and learning how to wield his camera as a political tool. At this historic moment he comes across two men -- the scientist Professor Vorobev and the revolutionist Joseph Stalin -- who have radical mysterious plans for the future. Soon they will accompany him on a long cold march through an era of brutality and absurdity. <em>The Commissariat of Enlightenment</em> is a mesmerizing novel of ideas that brilliantly links the tragedy and comedy of the Russian Revolution with the global empire of images that occupies our imaginations today. </p>