'Bronshtein in the Bronx' is a fictional account of Leon Trotsky's New York exile

Summary

NPR's Book of the Day: "Braunstein in the Bronx" by Robert Littell

Episode Release Date: February 12, 2025
Host: Andrew Limbong
Author Interviewed: Robert Littell
Episode Focus: Exploring the fictional novel "Braunstein in the Bronx," which delves into Leon Trotsky’s exile in New York City.

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Overview of "Braunstein in the Bronx"

"Braunstein in the Bronx" is a gripping fictional narrative by Robert Littell that reimagines the ten weeks Leon Trotsky spent in New York City during his 1917 exile. Historically known as Leon Trotsky, Littell presents him under the name Lev Braunstein, offering a nuanced portrayal of the revolutionary leader's attempts to ignite a proletarian revolt in America—a mission that ultimately falls short of his revolutionary ideals.

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Author's Personal Connection and Inspiration

Robert Littell shares a deeply personal connection to the subject matter, revealing that his father, born Leon Litsky, legally changed his surname to Lutette in 1919 to distance himself from the Bolshevik leader due to the ridicule associated with the similar names. Littell explains:

"I inherited my father's obsession with Ronstein Trotsky. My father... filed papers in a New York courthouse to change his family name legally to Lutette because he had been subjected to ridicule because of the similarity of his name to Leon Trotsky."
—Robert Littell (02:13)

This familial anecdote underscores the personal stakes Littell brings to the narrative, blending historical fiction with his own heritage.

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Trotsky’s Exile and Revolutionary Aspirations

The novel meticulously chronicles Trotsky's life in the Bronx, highlighting his deep-seated desire to spark a socialist revolution in America. Littell describes Trotsky's routine:

"He lived in the Bronx. He commuted on the third Avenue elevated down to Greenwich Village where he worked out of a basement writing editorials for a very small Russian language newspaper called Novy Mia."
—Robert Littell (03:06)

Despite his efforts, Trotsky faces profound disappointment as American workers show lukewarm interest in his revolutionary message. Littell notes:

"Trotsky thought that if he could start a revolution anywhere, it didn't matter where, Germany, France, England, Russia, America, that it would be contagious... It didn't happen in America."
—Robert Littell (03:06)

This misalignment between Trotsky’s revolutionary zeal and the pragmatic aspirations of American workers forms a central conflict in the novel.

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Characterization and Thematic Elements

A significant innovation in Littell's portrayal is the personification of Trotsky's conscience, named after Littell's father. This literary device explores the erosion of Trotsky’s idealism, questioning:

"Why did he become so brutal? Why did he become a killer? Why did he become the person he became and that the world thinks of today?"
—Robert Littell (06:07)

Littell delves into the psychological transformation of Trotsky, suggesting that his conscience eventually abandons him, leading to his return to Russia devoid of moral restraint. He reflects on the inherent violence in revolutionary movements:

"Revolutions are violent enterprises and eggs will always be broken."
—Robert Littell (07:43)

This metaphor highlights the inevitability of collateral damage in the pursuit of ideological change.

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Historical Interweaving and Fictional Liberties

While "Braunstein in the Bronx" is rooted in historical events, Littell takes creative liberties to enhance the narrative. A notable fictional element is the inclusion of J. Edgar Hoover as a character who greets Trotsky upon his arrival in America. Littell explains:

"J. Edgar Hoover was starting out to work for this government organization... I just imagined that these federal offices, why couldn't it be J. Edgar Hoover who was greeting Trotsky in his entree in America?"
—Robert Littell (05:30)

This fictional cameo serves to foreshadow Hoover’s future role in American intelligence and his eventual antagonism toward revolutionary figures like Trotsky.

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Author’s Reflections on Trotsky’s Legacy

Throughout the interview, Littell expresses a complex relationship with Trotsky's legacy. He clarifies his stance:

"I'm more interested in him than like him. I don't like him very much. He became much too violent for my personal tastes."
—Robert Littell (08:00)

Despite admiring Trotsky's commitment to his ideals, Littell critiques the brutality and moral compromises that characterized Trotsky's actions, particularly in establishing the Red Army and his later opposition to Stalin.

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Conclusion: A Thought-Provoking Narrative

"Braunstein in the Bronx" offers a compelling exploration of revolution, idealism, and the moral complexities faced by historical figures. Through meticulous research and personal insights, Robert Littell crafts a narrative that not only entertains but also invites readers to reflect on the human aspects behind monumental political movements.

For listeners and readers alike, this episode of NPR's Book of the Day provides an in-depth look into Littell's latest work, enriching the audience's understanding of both the fictional and historical dimensions of Trotsky's exile in New York.

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Notable Quotes:

• "I think what happened was I inherited my father's obsession with Ronstein Trotsky."
  — Robert Littell (02:13)

• "Revolutions are violent enterprises and eggs will always be broken."
  — Robert Littell (07:43)

• "I'm more interested in him than like him. I don't like him very much."
  — Robert Littell (08:00)

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the essence of the podcast episode, providing listeners with a clear understanding of "Braunstein in the Bronx" and the discussions surrounding its themes and authorial perspective.

Transcript

[Andrew Limbong]

Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. The revolutionary Leon Trotsky spends a few weeks in exile in New York City. What he wanted to do while there was start a great proletariat revolt. What ended up actually happening was not that. The new novel Bronstein in the Bronx is espionage writer Robert Littell's fictional version of what went down. Littell talks to npr. Scott Simon about why he paid special attention to Trotsky's conscience and about his personal familial connection to the story. After the break.

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[Scott Simon]

A ship steams into New York harbor in the first weeks of 1917, and a little boy named Sergey tells his father Lev that some of the buildings look so tall they seem to scrape the sky. They are built on the skeletons of workers, his father tells him, then adds, you should be making revolution. Lev Braunstein, whom history and the world would know as Leon Trotsky, is at the center of Robert Littell's new novel, Braunstein in the Bronx, set in the 10 weeks that the Russian revolutionary leader spent in exile in New York City just before Vladimir Lenin, the Bolshevik Communists, took power in Russia. Robert Littell, who has written more than 20 espionage bestsellers, including the company, joins us now from Morocco. Mr. Littell, thanks so much for being with us.

[Robert Littell]

Well, it's amazing that I am because I've never used this kind of technology before, but it's a lot of fun.

[Scott Simon]

Well, we're glad to be the first. You have a kind of feel a kind of personal family interest in Trotsky, don't you?

[Robert Littell]

Yes, I certainly did. I think what happened was I inherited my father's obsession with Ronstein Trotsky. My father was born in 1896 and his birth name was Leon Litsky. And in 1919, when he was 23 years old, he filed papers in a New York courthouse to change his family name legally to Lutette, and he had to give the judge a reason. And he told the judge that he had been subjected to enormous amount of ridicule because of the similarity of his name, which was Leon Litsky. To a Bolshevik revolutionist who was in New York named Leon Trotsky. And the judge must have laughed and said, sure.

[Scott Simon]

What intrigued you about this 10 week period in Trotsky's life?

[Robert Littell]

Oh, so many things. I mean, he came to the new world hoping to spark a socialist revolution. He lived in the Bronx. He commuted on the third Avenue elevated down to Greenwich Village where he worked out of a basement writing editorials for a very small Russian language newspaper called Novy Mia. He was extremely disappointed by the fact that the American workers weren't reacting to him the way he expected. I mean, Trotsky thought that if he could start a revolution anywhere, it didn't matter where, Germany, France, England, Russia, America, that it would be contagious and the workers of the world in other countries would take their cue from the revolution he started and rise up. And it didn't happen in America. It turned out that the American workers, the American proletariat in 1917 was much more interested in getting a bigger piece of the capitalist pie. They wanted shorter work weeks and shorter work days. They wanted paid vacations. Can you imagine in 1917 going on strike for paid vacations? But Trump, he didn't understand it. He wanted revolution in America. And it was February 1917. In my telling of the story, he was very depressed because he wasn't getting the reaction he needed.

[Scott Simon]

Let me ask you about those weeks in 1917. There was a crowd to meet Trotsky when he docked, wasn't there?

[Robert Littell]

No, no. He was very well known already. At the age of 26, he presided over the first Soviet and Russian means council. It's the 1905 revolution. So he was a young world class revolutionary. When he landed in New York already he had been in the Tsar's jail in Siberia. He had escaped on a sled drawn by reindeer, a thousand mile trek to freedom and to leave Russia. He had been wandering around Europe for years and he was a known entity.

[Scott Simon]

And you have J. Edgar Hoover making what we nowadays call a cameo appearance.

[Robert Littell]

Yes.

[Scott Simon]

Is it based on a real encounter?

[Robert Littell]

No, no, that's a novelistic encounter. J. Edgar Hoover was starting out to work for this government organization and he was beginning his career and we know where that went eventually. So I just imagined that these federal offices, why couldn't it be J. Edgar Hoover who was greeting Trotsky in his entree in America?

[Scott Simon]

You carve out a role for Trotsky's conscience, even give the conscience a name.

[Robert Littell]

Yeah, the conscience name is the name of my father. Because I always felt that this Was my father getting his revenge on Trotsky? My father didn't like Trotsky at all. I remember comments that he made later in life that he was appalled at what he called the ends justify means brutality of Trotsky, which he demonstrated when he created and ran the Red army during the Russian Civil War that followed the Bolshevik Revolution. The conscience is to me, a key character in the novel because I wondered where the idealism that must have functioned in Trotsky when he was young, what happened to it? Why did he become so brutal? Why did he become a killer? Why did he become the person he became and that the world thinks of today? Freud called the conscience the poetry of the unconscious. It said it's the little voice in our heads that helps us navigate the complexity of life. And at one point in my telling of the tale, Trojji's conscience quit him and he went back to Russia after the first February revolution with the ouster of the tsar. He went back to Russia with all the other Bolsheviks coming from all over the world, and he had no conscience anymore.

[Scott Simon]

But your novel does keep raising that question. Can you make a boy? I apologize for twisting this metaphor, but can you make a revolutionary omelet without breaking eggs?

[Robert Littell]

That's a lovely question. What can I tell you? Revolutions are violent enterprises and eggs will always be broken.

[Scott Simon]

Yeah. After spending all this time with Leon Trotsky, how do you wind up feeling about him? Did he move the needle of your heart even a little?

[Robert Littell]

No, I'm more interested in him than like him. I don't like him very much. He became much too violent for my personal tastes. And as I say, I think his conscience abandoned him because he did some awful things when he got power and after that, his struggle against Stalin. One always takes the side of anybody who's against Stalin.

[Scott Simon]

Robert Littell's new novel, Braunstein in the Bronx. Thank you so much for being with us.

[Robert Littell]

Thank you.

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