Institute of Fools

London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1980. BOOK: Corners, Spine Bumped; Light Shelf Rub to Boards; Edges Lightly Soiled. DUST JACKET: Previous Owner Markings (Price Clipped); Lightly Creased; Lightly Chipped; In Archival Quality Jacket Cover. A dissident's memoir of his detention in the most notorious Soviet psychiatric institution. SUB-TITLE: Notes from the Serbsky. EDITED AND TRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN BY: Marco Carynnyk and Marta Horban. CONTENTS: Introduction; Editors' Note; Preface; INSTITUTE OF FOOLS; APPENDIX; The Trial of Nekipelov; Oprichnina 1977; Oprichnina 1977 Continues; Our Searches; Notes to the Appendix; Bibliography; Index of Names. SYNOPSIS: We now know, from grimly authentic sources, the truth about the Gulag labour camps in the Soviet Union. But we still know comparatively little, at first hand, about the increasing use of mental institutions as part of the system of political repression. Here for the first time is a detailed account, from the inside, of the notorious Serbsky Institute of Moscow, through which four-fifths of the dissidents interned in psychiatric hospitals are processed. Victor Nekipelov was sent there in 1974, and until his report almost nothing was known about its workings. It is indeed a mad world that he reveals, but the madness is in the people who run the place. Ironically most of the Serbsky's inmates were criminals, not politicals, and most of them were faking insanity in the hope of being certified and thus avoiding prison: they felt that by comparison with prison, a mental hospital was a soft option. So, not surprisingly, they regarded the politicals as truly insane for wanting to assert their sanity. And as a means of judging his sanity, the "tests" to which Nekipelov was subjected were ludicrously inadequate. Yet, to his surprise, he was not certified, possibly owing to the influence of adverse publicity in the West. So in due course he stood trial, on trumped-up charges, and received a two-year prison sentence. And since his release he has (as he describes in an appendix) been continually harassed by the KGB. Now, in this year of the Olympic Games, he is again in prison. His book is a fascinating piece of writing, detached, graphic, ironical. He is the man of reason politely and persuasively showing us round. He speaks to us in his natural voice, spirited, witty, resourceful. His book is quietly understated, but builds up a powerful indictment. He writes with humour and understanding of his fellow inmates, and with puzzlement and loathing of the time-serving doctors. This is indeed a classic in the literature of dissent. Reviewing the American edition, Peter Reddaway (author of Russia's Political Hospitals) writes: "Institute of Fools is a literary gem. Nekipelov weaves together into a seamless narrative a systematic description of the Serbsky's procedures and personnel, affectionate sketches of his fellow inmates (only a few of whom were politicals), and a frank record of his own reflections and moods. The quiet wit, the lightness of touch, and the inborn honesty with which he reveals his personal weaknesses take the book onto a high level of poetry and truth, and give unusual force to his occasional moral judgements." An appendix includes the texts of several important documents, including an informal transcript of Nekipelov's trial. Victor Alexandrovich Nekipelov was born in 1928; he has a degree in pharmaceutics and in the late 1960's completed the Gorky Literary Institute's correspondence course. He has published poetry and translations in various Soviet newspapers and journals, and in the mid-1960's he published a book of poems entitled Between Mars and Venus. From 1970, Nekipelov worked in the town of Solnechnogorsk (Moscow Province), where he had a temporary residence permit. In the autumn of 1971, after he had received permission to reside there permanently and had an authorization for an apartment, both were suddenly withdrawn, no reason was given, and he was forced to leave. From the spring of 1972, Nekipelov lived in the town of Kameshkovo (Vladimir Province), where he worked as the manager of a pharmacy. In 1973, Nekipelov was arrested and sentenced to two years in a forced-labour camp for his samizdat activities. After his release, he returned to Kameshkovo with his family, and became a member of the Moscow Helsinki Watch committee. In December 1979, Nekipelov was arrested again.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.