num_pages: 829
description: In his first published novel, Soviet philosopher Alexander Zinoviev chose, to satirize and ridicule Soviet society in Yawning Heights, presented as the city/nation of Ibansk. Every Ibanskian citizen is named Iban Ibanovich Ibanov, and therefore goes by a nickname as Chatterer, Slanderer, Boss, Hog, Truthteller, Dauber, Sociologist, and many others. Truth Teller is obviously Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Boss is Stalin, Hog is Khrushchev. Lesser characters are more difficult to figure out. Ibansk roughly translates into English as 'Screw Town of (or for) all Ivans'. Their political religion is called the Ism (which is short for Soc-ism), and nobody really believes in it. When it was written the book was essentially a superlative description of the Soviet Union.
language: English
title: The Yawning Heights
publisher: Bodley Head