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Article: Stalin and His Hangmen: The Tyrant and Those Who Killed for Him.(Book review)
- Article from:
- Sarmatian Review
- Article date:
- September 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Polish Institute of Houston, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Stalin and his Hangmen The Tyrant and Those who Killed for Him
By Donald Rayfield. New York: Random House, 2004. xxviii + 541 pages. ISBN 0375506322. Hardcover. $19.77.
At the end of Part 1 of Goethe's Faust the antihero Faust wakes up after his Walpurgisnacht debauchery to a grey morning and the realization that his lechery has caused Gretchen to be hounded out of society and incarcerated as a criminal. Mephistopheles--for whom, one supposes, the greatest enjoyment is watching human beings suffer a lifetime of regrets in return for a few minutes of pleasure--had to leave Faust with enough humanity to repent. Faust now rages against him, saying, "Stay ...