Us Conductors
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.jpg) First edition cover | |
| Author | Sean Michaels |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical fiction |
| Publisher | Random House of Canada, Tin House (United States) |
Publication date | April 8, 2014 |
| Publication place | Canada |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| ISBN | 978-1935639817 |
| OCLC | 859192091 |
Us Conductors is a debut novel by Canadian writer Sean Michaels. Published in 2014 by Random House in Canada and Tin House in the United States, the novel is a fictionalized account of the relationship between Léon Theremin (also known as Lev Termen), the inventor of the theremin, and Clara Rockmore, the musician regarded as the instrument's first virtuoso player.
The novel was the winner of the 2014 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the 2014 Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction at the Quebec Writers' Federation Awards. It was also a shortlisted nominee for the 2015 Amazon.ca First Novel Award, the Canadian Authors Association Award for Fiction, the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses Firecracker Award for Fiction, and the 2016 International Dublin Literary Award.
The novel is a fictional story telling by Russian scientist Lev Sergeyvich Termen of his own life. While he narrates the account of his life, he is captive inside the boat Stary Bolshevik and locked up inside a cabin taking him to his homeland Russia from New York. He reminisces over the years when he was young and lived in Russia. The fellow intelligent students with him who had interest in science and mathematics would keep him motivated. He developed curiosity in vacuum tubes and over the years he went on to conceptualize and invent the wonderful magic-like musical instrument Theremin in the early 1900s. Theremin becomes popular both in Russia and the United States bringing him wide spread publicity. He moves to United States and lives a life of a public figure. His stay in States is funded by Russian government in return of which he has to work as a secret agent for them. He remains a socially active person on the scenes of New York and Manhattan in 1920s and 30s where new musical life is born. His state of mind is in dilemma between the freedom and attractive life of America as against to his love and devotion to Russia. He falls in love with the musician and young violinist Clara Rockmore. When Termen reaches Russia, he find it a completely changed country from the one that he had in his memories. He is deported to a jail in Siberia. He faces the harsh Gulag system during Stalin's rule. After a term in work camp of Siberia he is shifted to a secret laboratory where he keeps missing his love and is employed to develop an eavesdropping device to use against America as well as Stalin.
Development and publishing
Us Conductors is Michaels' debut novel, a fictionalized account of the relationship between Léon Theremin and Clara Rockmore.[1] He is better known for his MP3 blog Said the Gramophone, founded in 2003.[2] In 2009, Time Magazine ranked the blog as one of the twenty-five best blogs in the world.[3] He has published various articles on music in a variety of publications and in 2015 was music columnist for The Globe and Mail.[4] The novel was edited by Anne Collins and Meg Storey. It was published by Random House of Canada in Canada on April 8, 2014, and later by Tin House in the United States on June 10, 2014.[5][6][7] Notable people like composer George Jacob Gershwin, scientist Albert Einstein, pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff, musician Glenn Miller, and politician Lavrentiy Beria find mention in the novel.[8]