Literature and Fiction · Hardback

From a Russian Typewriter

Norwegian title: Fra en russisk skrivemaskin

Kristian Klausen

The KGB agent Mikhail Alekhin arrives in Drammen in 1971 looking for a Soviet dissident author who has gone underground. Mikhail’s mission is to carry out an assassination. In Drammen he gets to know Dordi Normann. Dordi also acts as a carer and assistant for their old father Willem – a visual artist who is defying advanced Alzheimer’s to keep painting. After meeting Dordi and Willem and seeing their dedication to art, Mikhail Alekhin becomes plagued by ideological doubts and feelings of guilt.

How will Mikhail, a Russian who’s more than used to propaganda and cultural alignment in a communist dictatorship, react to the radical political awakening which began to make waves in Norway at the time? What kind of cultural expression would he meet here? And can a human, driven by a sense of duty and loyalty, work in surveillance without causing damage to their soul?«Counterfactual fable provides a highly topical image of Russian surveillance culture.»AFTENPOSTEN