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Yuri Dombrovsky’s Alma-Ata
The city, museum work and literature about memory.
Published
This is a translation. The original is Русский. Language review: not performed by a native speaker.
In 1933, Yuri Dombrovsky was exiled to Alma-Ata. He obtained permission to settle in Tastak and found work at the Central Museum. The Qazaqstan tarihy portal also reports that he took part in archaeological expeditions.
His experience in Alma-Ata became part of the novel “The Keeper of Antiquities”. After returning from Kolyma, Dombrovsky worked in Alma-Ata on “The Ape Comes for His Skull”. He taught at a film school and translated works by Kazakh writers, including Sabit Mukanov.
Dombrovsky completed “The Faculty of Useless Knowledge” in 1975. No Soviet edition appeared during his lifetime. The novel was published in Paris in 1978.