1952 / America & 1953 / Apostles and Apostates

Summary: 1952 / America

In the Boyarsky, before dinner, Sofia and the Count play Zut, a game they invented, in which two players take turns giving examples from a specified category. A famous professor interrupts to invite the Count to discuss poetry later on, over cognac. He is in suite 317. During dinner, the Count is shocked to learn that both Sofia and Marina are aware of his ongoing relationship with Anna, and that Sofia and Anna by now have known each other for years.

The professor’s invitation was a cover story: in the Count’s old suite, Richard is waiting. His government is concerned about the post-Stalin future of the U.S.–Soviet relationship. Will Moscow open itself to rest of the world, or will it bolt its gates shut? Both men hope for the former but fear the latter. However, when Richard explains that he is setting up a unit in Paris that would welcome any information from the Count about social goings-on in Moscow, the Count politely but firmly refuses to spy or to traffic in gossip. The two friends spend the rest of their time together talking about their private lives and interests. As Anna and the Count lie in bed that evening, the Count praises “the Former”—openness to the new and foreign—which America embraces so much more readily than his own country. However, he rejects the American fixation on convenience. In his life, it is the inconveniences that have mattered most.

When Stalin dies early the next year, he is succeeded by two co-leaders: Malenkov, a progressive internationalist embodying what the Count called the Former, and Khrushchev, Moscow’s brutish former mayor, representing the Latter.

Summary: 1953 / Apostles and Apostates

The Count’s day has been full of frustration. The Boyarsky’s new order-tracking system, mandated by the Bishop, left diners first bemused, then angry over dishes that arrived cold. Now the Count waits impatiently in his study. When Anna and Sofia bring news, it is good: she won her Conservatory competition. Hearing Emile and Andrey enter the bedroom with a celebratory cake, the Count steps through the closet door to greet them. They are astonished, but even more so when they step through the closet and see not just Sofia but the famous Anna Urbanova.

Alerted by Vasily that the Bishop and a stranger are on their way, the Count receives them in the bedroom. The stranger, who heard Sofia play, has a letter directing her to report to the youth orchestra in Stalingrad. Anna comes to the rescue by stepping through the closest and informing the stunned visitors that her friend the Minister of Culture has plans for Sofia in Moscow. (Tomorrow, Anna will make the Minister ’s interest a reality.)

After the stranger and the Bishop make their retreat, the party prepares to reconvene at the Piazza. The Count, however, stays back to speak with a woman who stepped from the hallway shadows. It is Katerina Litvinova, with the news that Mishka died a week ago. After being born out of step with time, he’d seen time turn in his favor—only to see time quickly away from him again. Katerina was with Mishka in Yavas, having lost her husband some time prior. When Katerina mentions the Count’s poetry, he gently corrects her. All the poems published under his name were by Mishka, who during the Tsar’s reign could not take the same political risks as an aristocrat. In 1922, the poem that once might have cost Mishka his life instead saved the Count’s. Katerina leaves the Count with a package: Mishka’s special project.

The project is Bread and Salt, a hand-bound collection of quotations about bread. Tucked inside is a photo of the Count and Mishka. The first passage is God’s Genesis curse upon Adam, who will eat bread in the sweat of his brow. There are passages from the classics of ancient and modern literature, including many from Russian masters. The last quotation is from Chekov’s letter, the lines over which Mishka went to Siberia. The Count weeps for his friend. He also thinks about Katerina. When he asked where she was going, this woman who once lit up Mishka’s world replied, “Does it matter?”

Analysis: 1952 / America & 1953 / Apostles and Apostates

The tension between "the Former" (openness to the new or foreign) and "the Latter" (isolation from the world) grows here. Over their dinner and pausing their new family tradition of Zut, Sofia tries to convince the Count to allow his relationships to intermingle, as he is stuck in his former ways and desires to keep them separate. Richard suggests that the Count share intel with the Americans, but the Count maintains his loyalty to his country. The Count possesses a complex loyalty, much like the people of Russia who lined up for hours when Stalin died. The questions surrounding the Former and the Latter show the secrecy and uncertainty that have come with the new government. Not even its own people know what to expect when Stalin dies. While the Count and Anna talk of the Former in reference to America, she lauds them for their conveniences. The Count’s comment on his preference for the inconveniences echoes back to the idea that happy families have the same story while unhappy families all have different stories. The inconveniences of life have provided the Count with his most fulfilling and interesting experiences.

Harking back to the opening poem, the question of purpose fills this section. The Bishop, despising tradition, elitism, and the Count, has, in one action, stolen the joy from diners and workers alike in the Boyarsky. Where art once brought delight in the restaurant, the Bishop has set up a ticketing system in its place under the guise of efficiency and accountability, but is suspiciously vindictive. Finding purpose in survival is difficult without joy. Fortunately, the characters are determined to discover joy wherever they can, which means they must rely on each other. Therefore, the Count finally allows his friendships to intermingle and finds their community and companionship enriches his life and gives him purpose. Sofia is ordered to play for the Red October Youth Orchestra, which begs the question, what is the purpose of art if it is forced? With Mishka’s death, the Count has lost every person that knew him before his confinement. With memories so valuable in a time and place where the past is wiped away, this loss comes as a devastating blow. However, Sofia is now the Count’s legacy, and her future is of the utmost importance now more than ever. The Count will not let the Bolsheviks destroy the hope and purpose of Sofia like they have with Katerina.