PETERSBURG, VARVAROVKA KHERSON, ODESSA, CONSTANTINOPLE, PARIS, MAZATLÁN, CANANEA 1920–34 HE SAT BEFORE A MAN who smelled of morning. They twisted his words around. He didn’t understand then. But time brings clarity even in the confusion and murkiness of the present. If only he’d understood. They wanted him to be something so they made him into it. They called him a Red, an alien, an anarchist, Communist, Polack, Bolshevik, pig, commie, un-American. It’s what they leave out that matters. Husband, father. Of course, he was not yet a father, but how did they know. Others were. He soon would be. • • • KHERSON. IT SITS ON the Dnieper. Like in Gogol. It’s close to Odessa, but Odessa is on the Black Sea. Kherson is close to the Black Sea, but farther inland. When Austin and Julia traveled back to that continent—Asia—the boat took them first to Riga. They had to get to St. Petersburg. Then, from St. Petersburg to Kherson.
What do You think about The Invention Of Exile (2014)?
