Grigory Svirsky

Grigory Tsezarevich Svirsky (born in 1921 in Ufa) is Russian writer.

He was a military pilot during World War II (1941-1944), then worked as a journalist. After publishing several books, Svirsky openly criticized censorship in the Soviet Union [http://www.svoboda.org/programs/hd/2003/hd.111403.asp] , and all his writings have been forbidden and destroyed in 1968. [http://www.nashacanada.com/2005_grigory_svirsky.htm] . Svirsky also criticized 1968 suppression of Prague Spring by Soviet military forces [http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/ZKKPSS.html] . He was forced to emigrate to Israel on the personal request from KGB director Yuri Andropov in 1972. [http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/ZKKPSS.html] .

He moved to Canada in 1975 and started teaching Russian literature in University of Toronto and University of MarylandFact|date=April 2007. He published numerous fiction and non-fiction books, short stories, and plays. He was also an active participant of political discussions in RuNet, Russian blogosphere. [ [http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/shtrafniki/svirski-frames.html "Internet in handcuffs? This is madness."] by Grigory Svirsky ]

One of his recent books was about the Internet brigades - teams of FSB agents who conduct psychological operations in the internet against political bloggers. [http://www.vestnik.com/issues/2003/0430/win/polyanskaya_krivov_lomko.htm "Commissars of the Internet. The FSB at the Computer."] by Anna Polyanskaya, Andrei Krivov, and Ivan Lomko, Vestnik online, April 30, 2003 ( [http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/commissars-of-internet.html English translation] ) ] [ [http://www.grani.ru/Society/m.119861.html Interview of Roman Sadykhov, grani.ru] 03.04.2007 ] [http://technology.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,1505988,00.html China's secret internet police target critics with web of propaganda] , by Jonathan Watts in Beijing, June 14, 2005, Guardian Unlimited] These "internet brigades" allegedly disseminate disinformation and prevent free discussion of undesirable subjects in the internet forums by harassing and intimidating the bloggers http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/anastasia.html "Anastasya. A story on-line" (Full text in Russian)] ] He was interested in moral aspects of their work: "It seems that offending, betraying, or even "murdering" people in the virtual space is easy. This is like killing an enemy in a video game: one do not see a disfigured body or eyes of the person who is dying right in front of you. However, human soul lives by its own basic laws that force it to pay the price in the real life". [http://www.library.cjes.ru/online/?a=con&b_id=318 "Eye for an eye" (Russian)] by Grigory Svirsky and Vladimur Bagryansky, publication of Russian Center for Extreme Journalism [http://www.cjes.ru/] ]

References

External links (Russian)

* [http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/photo.html Photo]
* [http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/avto.html His biography]
* [http://www.belousenko.com/wr_Svirsky.htm His biography and links to some books]
* [http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/NaVi.html Memories about him]
* [http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/knigi1.html Links to his books]
* [http://www.nashacanada.com/2005_grigory_svirsky.htm Interview with G. Svirsky in "Nasha Canada" - Toronto russian newspaper]

His books

*"Dead end of Lenin", Moscow, Publishing house "Soviet writer", 1962. [http://ca.share.geocities.com/[e-mail]/Len-tupik.htm Full text in Russian]
*"Hostages: The personal testimony of a Soviet Jew". Vintage/Ebury (A Division of Random House Group), 1976, ISBN 0-370-10328-9. [http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/zalojniki.html Full text in Russian]
*"Polar tragedy", Frankfurt, "Posev", 1976. [http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/Polar.html Full text in Russian] , French translation: "Tragedie Polarie", Quine, Montreal, 1978.
*"Breakthrough", New York, 1983. ISBN 5-860-90141-0 [http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/Proriv.html Four chapters in Russian] , Hebrew translation: "Hapriza by Maoz", Israel, 1990.
*"At the execution place. The literature of moral resistance, 1946-1986." Moscow, 1992. [http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/NaLob.html Full text in Russian] English version: "A history of post-Soviet writing (The literature of the Moral Opposition)", Ardis, Ann Arbor, USA, 1981, ISBN 0-882-33449-2.
*"Soviet penal battalions" [http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/shtrafniki/index-svirski.html Full text in Russian]
*"Luba means "love" or never-ending Nord-Ost. A non-fiction story." Jerusalem, 2004 [http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/Nord-Ost.htm Full text in Russian]
* [http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/anastasia.html "Anastasya. A story on-line" (Full text in Russian)]
*"Farewell to Russia", New York, 1986 ISBN 0-938-92080-4 [http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/Posch.html Full text in Russian]
*"Mother and stepmother", "Scholar", Toronto, Canada, 1990. ISBN 1-895-39901-7 [http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/MM.html Full text in Russian]
*"Forbidden story", "Scholar", Toronto, Canada, 1990. [http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/Zapr.html Full text in Russian]
*"Escape", Jerusalem, 1994 [http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/zagolovki.htm Full text in Russian]
*"Little Andrei", Moscow, 1998. [http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/Andreika.html Full text in Russian]
*"On the islands of George Washington", New York, 1998 [http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/Ostrova.html Full text in Russian]
*"Fuel pump kings. Russian gangsters in America" 2000. [http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/PetKing.htm Full text in Russian]
*"Masters of disguise. A story of Russian leaders." Moscow. 2002. ISBN 5-900-81648-6 [http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/Ryazhenye.html Full text in Russian]
*"My Galich", a story of Alexander Galich [http://ca.geocities.com/[e-mail]/galitch.htm Full text in Russian]