#i thought trotsky was killed with an ice pick all this time but it was really an ice axe

[phoebebarton]

one thing so many people overlook about Goncharov (1973) is the degree to which Ice Pick Joe as a character owes to the assassination of Leon Trotsky. i mean, beyond the whole ice pick/ice axe convergence, think about the way he spit in Andrey's goon's eye just before the church scene - it's like a recasting of the entire Trotsky assassination where Trotsky ends up winning, only to die anyway

i can’t help but look at this and the overthrow of Allende’s government in Chile - also 1973! - and conclude that one of Goncharov’s quiet messages is “no matter what you do, socialism will be defeated” - almost presaging the ‘80s, really