‘Travels in Siberia’ with Ian Frazier

The World

For generations, Sibera has served as a metaphor for exile, whether social, political, romantic, or geographic. Consider political thinkers like Lenin, who were forced to serve time ? often years ? in Siberia, or romantic heroes like Dr. Zhivago, cruelly separated from those they love and sent to the region’s icy tundra. Even people who commit crimes of etiquette in their social circles inadvertently exile themselves to social Siberia.

But is this place of exile really so much like a prison? Ian Frazier doesn’t think so.

For decades, Frazier’s been visiting and loving Siberia, and joins us to talk about his tribute to that desolate wilderness, “Travels in Siberia.”

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