BACKGROUND BOOKS
Aksyonov and four fellow writers. It was published in the United States and France in 1982, after officials in the USSR banned the collection.
An eclectic anthology of poetry and prose 23 Soviet writers, Metro-pol represented yet another attempt by established literary figures to move beyond the constraints of offi- cial literature. The harsh reaction from the Kremlin was due as much to the unsanctioned nature of the group effort as it was to the content of individual pieces of writing. Ak- syonov...