Octobriana And The Russian Underground
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: 1st ed,
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Yellowed
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
Beneath the Iron Curtain, a forbidden heroine was born — a wild, anarchic superwoman named Octobriana, conjured by a clandestine collective of Soviet underground artists known as the PPP (Progressive Political Pornography). Octobriana and the Russian Underground presents the audacious story of this countercultural icon, smuggled out of the USSR by Czech author Petr Sadecky, who chronicles the lives of the dissident artists who risked everything to create her. Equal parts graphic art manifesto and Cold War thriller, the book details the raw, explosive imagery of Soviet underground culture at its most defiant, offering Western audiences a glimpse into a world of artistic rebellion that the Kremlin was desperate to suppress. The work occupies a singular and contested place in the history of comics and political art, blurring the line between document and myth — Sadecky's account was itself later disputed, with critics arguing he fabricated elements of the narrative, adding yet another layer of intrigue to an already labyrinthine tale. The bold, monochrome artwork pulses with revolutionary energy, illustrating a character who has since become a cult figure, adopted by Western comic artists from Bryan Talbot to Alan Moore. Whether read as political testimony, outsider art, or an elaborate literary hoax, this volume remains one of the most compellingly strange artefacts to emerge from the Cold War era — leaving the reader to wonder where the underground ends and the legend begins.
Author: Petr Sadecky
Format: Paperback
Published: 1971, Harper & Row, Publishers
Genre: Graphic novels
Edition: 1st ed,
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Yellowed
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
Beneath the Iron Curtain, a forbidden heroine was born — a wild, anarchic superwoman named Octobriana, conjured by a clandestine collective of Soviet underground artists known as the PPP (Progressive Political Pornography). Octobriana and the Russian Underground presents the audacious story of this countercultural icon, smuggled out of the USSR by Czech author Petr Sadecky, who chronicles the lives of the dissident artists who risked everything to create her. Equal parts graphic art manifesto and Cold War thriller, the book details the raw, explosive imagery of Soviet underground culture at its most defiant, offering Western audiences a glimpse into a world of artistic rebellion that the Kremlin was desperate to suppress. The work occupies a singular and contested place in the history of comics and political art, blurring the line between document and myth — Sadecky's account was itself later disputed, with critics arguing he fabricated elements of the narrative, adding yet another layer of intrigue to an already labyrinthine tale. The bold, monochrome artwork pulses with revolutionary energy, illustrating a character who has since become a cult figure, adopted by Western comic artists from Bryan Talbot to Alan Moore. Whether read as political testimony, outsider art, or an elaborate literary hoax, this volume remains one of the most compellingly strange artefacts to emerge from the Cold War era — leaving the reader to wonder where the underground ends and the legend begins.