"I Outlived the Bastards"

"I Outlived the Bastards" is the inscription on the gravestone of Abram Paretsky (1901-1992), later Albert Parry, and signifies his triumph over the Soviet regime. In this memoir, Parry recounts his early life in Tsarist Rostov, his escape from Russia, and his experiences in America. As a young man, he worked as a reporter and editor for the New York-based, anti-communist, Russian-language newspaper Russkii Golos (The Russian Voice), warning against the rise of the Soviet Union. The renowned American journalist H.L. Mencken "discovered" him in 1930, and Parry was the first American to mention Nabokov in an American Mercury article.

Born in Rostov-on-Don, Parry, a Jewish immigrant, arrived in America in 1921. He became a freelance writer and author, earning a Ph.D. in European History from the University of Chicago and founding Colgate University's first undergraduate Russian Studies program. A staunch anti-Soviet liberal Democrat, Parry (who changed his name in 1926) worked with the CIA, Voice of America, and Radio Free Europe, motivated by personal hatred of the regime. He wrote the memoir in the late 1970s, drawing on his articles and books, including an Esquire essay on his near-execution in 1920.During WWII, Parry worked for the OSS. He combined teaching with prolific writing, with his 1966 book, The New Class Divided, presciently describing the Soviet system's undermining. In 1989, he reunited with his sister in Rostov after 69 years. I Outlived the Bastards also details his encounters with mid-century luminaries like Alexander Kerensky, Vladimir Nabokov, H.L. Mencken, and Greta Garbo.