To fully understand this novel, one must place it in its era, in 1982. France is led by the socialists, an intellectual, well-meaning left, a caviar left, Parisian yuppies.
At the same time, there is the USSR, whose secret services are infiltrating the Western world. With the scene set, we better understand this work where the author demonstrates and describes the disinformation and misinformation skillfully conducted by the KGB.
A fabricated dissident to denounce the real dissidents. Then a manuscript that makes its way across the Iron Curtain in a flamboyant manner. The French intelligentsia falls into the trap, with critics, also manipulated or blackmailed, praising a manuscript they have not read. Finally, the book is published, and it’s a success, a success also fabricated. Does the KGB shoot the pianist?
Yes and no, Vladimir Volkoff untangles the threads of this story. There are the dupes, the manipulators, the conductors. The secret services create a dissident, a victim, and everyone falls into the trap. This espionage novel is a satire of that Parisian society, this left bank, left-leaning out of intellectual snobbery and inflated with its arrogant superiority.
In 1982, the author evokes the creation, desired by the USSR, of a fascist-leaning party (of course, here it’s a novel) aiming to undermine the foundations of French politics, divide to conquer.
Although today the USSR has collapsed, the ideology has disappeared, but Russians are above all players and even chess champions. Sacrificing a piece, waiting and being patient is their mindset, and Vladimir Volkoff demonstrates this brilliantly, will we learn the lesson? “The Montage,” a book still very relevant despite its forty years.
