“Whether Rasputin was charlatan or saint remains ambiguous, but Catastroika casts the larger-than-life character in new light (or shadow). Told from the perspectives of Rasputin’s daughter and a fictional Russian Jew —both settled in America—this book reflects on Russia’s past through their experiences. Intimate and insightful, Charles Rammelkamp will have you saying “da!” to Catastroika.”
— Eric D. Goodman, author of Setting the Family Free, Womb: a novel in utero and Tracks: A Novel in Stories
“Like Woody Allen’s Zelig, Charles Rammelkamp’s fictional witness to history, Sasha (Alexander Federmesser), was there, and can tell us lucky readers all about it, from the assassination of Tsar Alexander II, the Russian Revolution, through the murder of the Romanov family. Throw in Maria, Rasputin’s daughter and her amazingly picaresque real life in Russia, Europe, and Hollywood, and you’ve got a tale for the ages. Rammelkamp’s diction is pitch perfect for the times he writes about. Read this amazing collection, then read it again.”
— Robert Cooperman, winner of the Colorado Book Award for Poetry, for In the Colorado Gold Fever Mountains
“What a fabulous witches’ borscht! It’s fabulous in a strict sense: what seems to be the stuff of fable is firmly rooted in the real world. Catastroika, a historical novel-in-verse opening with a poem in the author’s own voice—his response to viewing a famous part of Rasputin’s anatomy in a glass jar in a St. Petersburg museum—moves to a narrative alternating between the voice of Maria, Rasputin’s adoring daughter, and that of Sasha, a Russian Jew acquainted third-hand with Rasputin and first-hand with young Maria. Their stories take us from the Romanovs through the Bolshevik revolution to the present day in the US. Meticulously researched, Catastroika is peppered with shocks, from the horrors suffered by Jews and “White Russians” in post-Romanov Russia, to the astounding US careers of Maria Rasputin, first as a lion tamer with the Ringling Brothers circus and then—but no, I will commit no spoiler here by revealing her final career. Equally delicious is the later life of Sasha in the US city of —but no, that too would be a spoiler. Suffice it say that Catastroika, to borrow a show-biz phrase for a bravura performance, really brings it home.”
— Clarinda Harriss, author of Innumerable Moons and other books of poetry and fiction
“Was recent Russian history a matter of perestroika (reform), or was it more of a catastrophe? It was a combination of both, as shown in Catastroika, a collection of poetic accounts of events that are sometimes ordinary, and other times shattering. The tellers of these deeply felt, often wrenching tales are Maria Rasputin, daughter of the mystic, healer, and ladies’ man Grigory Rasputin, and Sasha Federmesser, a Jew who lives through persecution, escapes Russia, and settles in Baltimore. These poems will open your eyes to truths about rulers, revolutionaries, and the people caught between them.”
— Thaddeus Rutkowski, author of Border Crossings
“Charles Rammelkamp’s Catastroika is the best romp with Rasputin since the animated film Anastasia – with none of the sugar coating. Based on the true story of Aron Simanovich, Jewish secretary to the notorious monk who perished in Auschwitz, and his friendship with Rasputin’s daughter, Maria, Catastroika takes us on a thrilling kaleidoscopic ride through some of the most horrific and strangest parts of Russian history.”
— Anne Eakin Moss, professor of Russian literature, Johns Hopkins University
Catastroika
Catastroika
Charles Rammelkamp
Copyright © 2020 by Charles Rammelkamp
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission from the publisher (except by reviewers who may quote brief passages).
First Edition
Printed in the United States of America
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-62720-298-5
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62720-300-5
Design by Apprentice House
Editorial development by Annabelle Finagin
Promotion plan by Annabelle Finagin
Cover art by Gene McCormick
Apprentice House Press
Loyola University Maryland
4501 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21210
410.617.5265
www.apprenticehouse.com
This book is for Abby, the Alexandra to my Nicholas.
The following books were helpful in the
research and formation of this work.
Rasputin: Faith, Power and the Twilight of the Romanovs
by Douglas Smith
Former People: The Final Days of the Russian Aristocracy
by Douglas Smith
Rasputin: The Man Behind the Myth
by Maria Rasputin and Pattie Barham
Jewish Baltimore: A Family Album
by Gilbert Sandler
Contents
Prologue: Sightseeing in St. Petersburg xvii
