To fill the void that resulted from the shattering of his Marxist beliefs, Andrei Sinyavsky invented Abram Tertz. Weaving together biography and keen literary insights, this book traces the metamorphosis of Sinyavsky, teacher and critic, into Tertz, clandestine writer of fantastical fiction. It reviews the crises in Soviet society before and after Stalin's death, and describes the loss of faith that precipitated Sinyavsky 's dual existence, ending with the writer's arrest, trial, and imprisonment in 1966.

Sympathetic yet critical, Mr. Lourie treats all of Sinyavsky's pretrial writings. He discusses The Trial Begins, Thought Unaware, On Socialist Realism, The Fantastic Stories, and The Makepeace Experiment as works of art and as visible signs of complex and changing relationships. Each work is assessed in the context within which it was written, and is compared with other Russian works and with contemporary Polish, European, and American writings. Sinyavsky's literary criticism, published in Russia under his own name, is evaluated on its own terms and in the light of his fiction.

In addition to all of the published writings, Mr. Lourie makes full use of the record of Sinyavsky's trial, reminiscences of his friends, and the small body of critical literature available. The book provides not only a balanced and eloquent appraisal of the life and art of a modern Russian master, but it offers an extraordinary view into the mind of a Soviet intellectual.