(1988), Colin Wilson’s sixteenth novel, began as a commission from Reader’s Digest which was published as “A Novelization of Events in the Life and Death of Grigori Efimovich Rasputin” in
Tales of the Uncanny(1983). That title, though awkward, does indicate the genre of the work; it is a “fictobiography”, a partly fictionalized life, written in the manner of a novel with dialogue and the representation of inward thoughts and experiences, of a real person, Grigori Efimovich Rasputin (1869-1916). [All spellings of Russian names in this entry are as in Wilson’s text.]
Variously lauded as saint, mystic, holy man and healer, and lambasted as sinner, charlatan, intriguer and sexual predator, Rasputin is the kind of contradictory character who especially
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Citation: Tredell, Nicolas. "The Magician from Siberia". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 March 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23996, accessed 27 November 2024.]
