1 00:00:01,040 --> 00:00:06,600 Speaker 1: A warning before we start. This episode includes discussions of suicide. 2 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:11,520 Speaker 1: In one of my conversations with Svetlana's daughter, there was 3 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:14,960 Speaker 1: one detail she shared about her mother that really stuck 4 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:19,600 Speaker 1: with me. Olga had spent her childhood living alongside, living 5 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:24,160 Speaker 1: inside her mother's trauma, and after many moves and revelations 6 00:00:24,239 --> 00:00:28,000 Speaker 1: and heartbreaks, that trauma was something the two of them shared. 7 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:32,159 Speaker 1: But Svetlana was resilient, and she wanted to teach her 8 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:37,080 Speaker 1: daughter resilience. Two. My mother would make me recite the 9 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:42,200 Speaker 1: story of Scheherazade to myself as a means of telling 10 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:48,320 Speaker 1: myself that things could be so much worse. The story 11 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:52,080 Speaker 1: of Scheherazade comes from the classic tale One thousand and 12 00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 1: one Nights. As the story goes, a Persian sultan, driven 13 00:00:56,480 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 1: into a jealous rage by his unfaithful wife, would marry 14 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:02,640 Speaker 1: a verse gin every night and behead her in the morning. 15 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:06,679 Speaker 1: When the beautiful and clever Shahrazade weds the monarch, she 16 00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:11,520 Speaker 1: staves off death by telling him enchanting stories Aladdin Ali 17 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:14,839 Speaker 1: Baba and the Forty Thieves, Sindbad the Sailor. But each 18 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:17,520 Speaker 1: night she stops the story before getting to the end. 19 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:20,800 Speaker 1: If the Sultan wanted to hear the rest. He'd have 20 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 1: to spare her life until the next night, and the next, 21 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:28,920 Speaker 1: and the next, and after one thousand and one nights 22 00:01:28,959 --> 00:01:32,800 Speaker 1: of bedtime story blue Balls. The Sultan, who'd fallen head 23 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:38,320 Speaker 1: over heels for Shahrazad, spares her life forever. Ah, love, 24 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 1: I could be kidnapped by a king and having to 25 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:44,959 Speaker 1: be telling him stories to keep myself alive, you know, 26 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:47,600 Speaker 1: the never ending story to keep myself alive, that kind 27 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:52,760 Speaker 1: of thing like we should be so lucky. Of all 28 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:55,800 Speaker 1: the sagas of survival that' stet Lana could have compelled 29 00:01:55,800 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 1: her daughter to recite, she chose Shahrazade, a woman trapped 30 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:04,120 Speaker 1: by a tyrant, A woman whose power, whose very survival 31 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:09,720 Speaker 1: was rooted in her ability to tell stories of Stalin's children. 32 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:12,960 Speaker 1: His eldest son was killed in war at thirty six. 33 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:17,079 Speaker 1: His younger son drank himself to death by forty, but 34 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:22,160 Speaker 1: Svetlana lived to eighty five. She lived by telling her story. 35 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:26,720 Speaker 1: Storytelling was her route to freedom, her ticket to America, 36 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:31,000 Speaker 1: to financial independence, a means to gain control over and 37 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: make sense of her messy life. So how does that 38 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:42,000 Speaker 1: Lana's story end? Did she ultimately find what she was 39 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:44,920 Speaker 1: looking for. Did she ever really break free of her 40 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 1: family history, of the cycles that haunted her? Can any 41 00:02:49,919 --> 00:02:59,600 Speaker 1: of us? I'm Dan Katroser and this is the last 42 00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:05,799 Speaker 1: step episoda of sted Lana Steed Lana. You wake up 43 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 1: in the morning, you live your day, and then you 44 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:22,639 Speaker 1: do it tomorrow and over and over again, and over 45 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:35,080 Speaker 1: again and over again. Act one. I did it my way. 46 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:38,440 Speaker 1: Sped Lana had spent the last few years trying to 47 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:41,600 Speaker 1: reconnect with her family, with her roots, and find a 48 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:45,840 Speaker 1: place that felt like home. Now she found herself back 49 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:49,880 Speaker 1: to square one in Wisconsin, or more like square eight. 50 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:54,320 Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm not one for numbers. Here's Rosemary, 51 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 1: you know it's It's a story that is unbelievably structured 52 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:03,760 Speaker 1: because everything echoes every thing else. Spent Lana is back 53 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:07,640 Speaker 1: in Wisconsin again. Olga is back at boarding school in 54 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 1: England again. Spent Lana's two Russian children are lost to 55 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:16,760 Speaker 1: her again, and now she's alone in a hunting lodge 56 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:19,920 Speaker 1: in the woods that she bought for cheap. Some newspapers 57 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:22,640 Speaker 1: report that she's got fifteen hundred dollars to her name, 58 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:25,799 Speaker 1: and when she reaches out to friends to ask for money, 59 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:29,400 Speaker 1: a very normal communist thing to do when you need help. 60 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:33,520 Speaker 1: Her American capitalist friends are embarrassed for her, and the 61 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:36,599 Speaker 1: press has a field day. I'm looking at this one 62 00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:40,520 Speaker 1: clipping now where Spet's wearing eighties wire frame aviator glasses 63 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:46,080 Speaker 1: with the headline Stalin's sad daughter has to beg Jesus 64 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:51,040 Speaker 1: in the past, when speed Lana's been this confused, down 65 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:56,039 Speaker 1: and out, overexposed, underappreciated, She's fallen back on her writing. 66 00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 1: She's reclaimed her voice and she got rich doing it, 67 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:05,320 Speaker 1: so she tries again. Steed Lana writes another book, a 68 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:08,960 Speaker 1: memoir called A Book for Granddaughters about her time back 69 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,440 Speaker 1: in Russia, and if you recall, stet Lana had also 70 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:15,359 Speaker 1: written a book while living in England, a memoir called 71 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:19,640 Speaker 1: The Faraway Music about her time it's Holly Esen. So 72 00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:23,200 Speaker 1: she's got these two books, two books that I love 73 00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:26,919 Speaker 1: so much. We built this podcast around the stories they contain, 74 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:30,520 Speaker 1: and yet no one gives a shit about them because 75 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:35,599 Speaker 1: they aren't about her father. The only interest in Svetlana 76 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:38,200 Speaker 1: was that she was Stalin's daughter, so she wasn't talking 77 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:43,280 Speaker 1: about Stalin. They weren't interested, So she decides she needs 78 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:47,760 Speaker 1: help from someone with a bit more agency, and who 79 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:53,799 Speaker 1: might have more agency why an agent, perhaps Steed. Lana 80 00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:57,560 Speaker 1: gets connected with Helen Brand, a famous literary agent to 81 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:01,840 Speaker 1: such icons as Maya Angelou and fran Leibowitz. And in 82 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:05,080 Speaker 1: the archive at Amorous College which houses feed Lana and 83 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:08,960 Speaker 1: Helen's letters, I was stunned by the shall we say, 84 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:14,599 Speaker 1: emotionally charged correspondence between these two women. I'm going to 85 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:18,280 Speaker 1: force my mic shy producers to read these letters for me. 86 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:24,159 Speaker 1: The relationship with Helen Brand begins cordially and sweetly. Here's Helen. 87 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:31,240 Speaker 1: You write beautifully about nature, about faith, about people. I 88 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:34,599 Speaker 1: love your descriptions. This is not a political book, but 89 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:39,640 Speaker 1: a hunting memoir. You can feel speed. Lana's surprised, refreshed, 90 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:43,040 Speaker 1: ready to engage deeply with a collaborator and a champion. 91 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:46,640 Speaker 1: For a long time, I have not heard anyone praising 92 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:52,200 Speaker 1: my work and good things owas make me pray. Helen's 93 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:54,640 Speaker 1: going to make set the talk of the town again. 94 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:57,880 Speaker 1: She has a game plan. She has connections. She's going 95 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:01,400 Speaker 1: to use them. All have to find the best editor 96 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:05,320 Speaker 1: and the best publisher. She goes on to list editors 97 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:08,440 Speaker 1: she knows at Random House, Harper and Rogue, nah FSG 98 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:12,400 Speaker 1: a double day. Spent Lana is thrilled. She sees the 99 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:16,480 Speaker 1: whole world opening up to her again. She even makes 100 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:18,520 Speaker 1: plans to buy a new house with what she is 101 00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 1: sure will be a nice advance. This is all going 102 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:25,640 Speaker 1: so well, so smoothly. The trajectory is up, up, up, 103 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:31,040 Speaker 1: But what goes up, according to science, must inevitably come down. 104 00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:39,400 Speaker 1: Early on, editors start passing. Here's W. W. Norton and co. 105 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:43,480 Speaker 1: The past, which propelled spent Lana into the limelight seems 106 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:50,960 Speaker 1: so distant and really used up that it doesn't resonate now. Basically, 107 00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:54,800 Speaker 1: according to this guy, Spent Lana's old news. Then there's 108 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:59,120 Speaker 1: the actual critique of her manuscripts. He regretfully calls them 109 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:04,480 Speaker 1: one damned thing. After another Random House agrees set Lana 110 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:08,040 Speaker 1: has to be massively edited. But it's not just her 111 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:14,240 Speaker 1: story that's turning publishers away. It's well her I also 112 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:18,960 Speaker 1: know too much about how difficult she can be, how paranoid. Okay, 113 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:22,840 Speaker 1: that's not fun. But Helen, good old Helen is not 114 00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:25,480 Speaker 1: willing to give up on her client just yet. She's 115 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:28,840 Speaker 1: going to wrap up their critiques into one big constructive 116 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:32,480 Speaker 1: burrito and hope that's Svetlana will bite. Here's the thought. 117 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:36,120 Speaker 1: Set Lana ought to condense all four of her memoirs 118 00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:41,240 Speaker 1: into one big, best selling autobiography. Yum is that Soviet 119 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 1: cilantro I taste. I think a book titled set Lana 120 00:08:45,559 --> 00:08:53,240 Speaker 1: a Life would sell and sell and sell. Now, before 121 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:56,080 Speaker 1: we get to set Lana's response to this, I want 122 00:08:56,120 --> 00:09:00,560 Speaker 1: to say that I understand the suggestion, yet I also 123 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:04,040 Speaker 1: totally understand the feeling of having written something you're really 124 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:06,679 Speaker 1: proud of and the person who is supposed to be 125 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:10,120 Speaker 1: your advocate tells you that's great, But why don't you 126 00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:14,319 Speaker 1: write it completely differently? This is the reason I'm bald. 127 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:18,120 Speaker 1: Each follicle of hair I've lost is from someone not 128 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:21,880 Speaker 1: clapping at my work. But I've never had the ovaries 129 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:25,320 Speaker 1: to do what sveet Lana does next, and that is 130 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:34,319 Speaker 1: to clap back. The whole notion about condensing my whole 131 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:39,160 Speaker 1: body of working one sounds like eskuing a composer to 132 00:09:39,280 --> 00:09:46,240 Speaker 1: write one big symphony. Spetlana is downright insulted, and as 133 00:09:46,280 --> 00:09:49,800 Speaker 1: this conflict between agent and client is brewing, spet Lana 134 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:53,439 Speaker 1: puts a down payment on a house with money from 135 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:58,520 Speaker 1: an advance that was not advanced. PS. I am still 136 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:00,720 Speaker 1: not quite out of a met so I have gotten 137 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:05,640 Speaker 1: into thanks to your promises, that I quote can buy 138 00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:09,720 Speaker 1: a house. She sends Helen Brand and her agency a 139 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:13,480 Speaker 1: legal bill for five hundred and ninety two dollars and 140 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:19,000 Speaker 1: thirty six cents. Would your office reimburse me? I think 141 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:24,680 Speaker 1: it should. Helen is astounded by this quote soap opera. 142 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:29,120 Speaker 1: She believed in speed Lana's extraordinary story and was only 143 00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:32,000 Speaker 1: trying to help, but it blew up in her face. 144 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:37,040 Speaker 1: When Spetlana first came to America in nineteen sixty seven, 145 00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:39,480 Speaker 1: she did so on a work visa with a one 146 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:42,840 Speaker 1: point five million dollar book deal. If you recall, she 147 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:46,960 Speaker 1: was getting so much mail from her readers, America loved her. 148 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:50,320 Speaker 1: Listen to how young and hopeful she sounds. Have you 149 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:53,920 Speaker 1: any idea how many letters you've received? Well? I think 150 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:56,480 Speaker 1: I have received hundreds and hundreds of them. Have you 151 00:10:56,520 --> 00:10:58,480 Speaker 1: read most of them? Oh? Yes, of course, And I 152 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:01,640 Speaker 1: keep most of them because they are really very nice 153 00:11:01,679 --> 00:11:06,600 Speaker 1: and very kind and warm letters. Now Svetlana is not 154 00:11:06,679 --> 00:11:11,520 Speaker 1: receiving letters from adoring readers. She's getting rejection after rejection, 155 00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:16,960 Speaker 1: and rejection just sucks, especially when it's your life story 156 00:11:17,040 --> 00:11:21,080 Speaker 1: that people are rejecting. That's personal, and for someone so 157 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:24,679 Speaker 1: studied in politics, it's frustrating to me that spet Lana 158 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:27,960 Speaker 1: could not have been less diplomatic in how she received 159 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:33,360 Speaker 1: constructive feedback. She was alienating her allies. But maybe she 160 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:38,800 Speaker 1: was just over it. Maybe after everyone twisting her intentions, 161 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:42,120 Speaker 1: her words, her story, maybe after East and West had 162 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:45,319 Speaker 1: yanked her around, Maybe after being robbed of her money 163 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:48,920 Speaker 1: at Taliessin and emptied of her heart in Russia, maybe 164 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:53,680 Speaker 1: she was just like, fuck all, y'all. The problem is 165 00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:56,880 Speaker 1: all those people who had fuck spet Lana over in 166 00:11:56,920 --> 00:12:00,560 Speaker 1: the past had seduced her because they want did something 167 00:12:00,640 --> 00:12:04,559 Speaker 1: from her. Helen Brand is just an agent who set 168 00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:07,640 Speaker 1: Lana's never met in person and who is merely trying 169 00:12:07,679 --> 00:12:11,840 Speaker 1: to help. Yet set Lana is so over people's input 170 00:12:11,880 --> 00:12:15,079 Speaker 1: on her life story that she sees a suggestion as 171 00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:19,880 Speaker 1: an attack, critique as a betrayal. The final letter from 172 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:24,080 Speaker 1: helen Brand, which included her returning all of set Lana's manuscripts, 173 00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:29,120 Speaker 1: was dated November ninth, nineteen eighty nine, the fifty seventh 174 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:33,360 Speaker 1: anniversary to the day of her mother's death, the exact 175 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:38,960 Speaker 1: day the Berlin Wall came tumbling down. The world was 176 00:12:39,080 --> 00:12:50,040 Speaker 1: changing rapidly. Could set Lana keep up more? After the 177 00:12:50,080 --> 00:13:02,040 Speaker 1: Break Act too? The Last Laugh? June nineteen ninety one, 178 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:07,320 Speaker 1: A dreary day in London. After all the rejection in America, 179 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:11,280 Speaker 1: Svetlana has returned to Great Britain once again, and on 180 00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:15,360 Speaker 1: this overcast morning, Svetlana gets herself dressed and takes the 181 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:21,000 Speaker 1: tube to London Bridge. When she gets off the train, 182 00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:24,880 Speaker 1: it's raining. She has her umbrella, but it keeps flying 183 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:32,640 Speaker 1: up and turning inside out. When she reaches the bridge, 184 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:41,360 Speaker 1: she finds it deserted, nobody cloud and the water was 185 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:48,400 Speaker 1: muddy and brown and dreadful. She's laughing in this interview, 186 00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:51,480 Speaker 1: recorded a few years after the fact, but this is 187 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:57,320 Speaker 1: a grim moment, the lowest low. She Shimmi's up onto 188 00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:01,360 Speaker 1: the rail, struggling in her pencil skirt. There was nothing 189 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:04,680 Speaker 1: particularly wrong with my wife on that day, but on 190 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:08,400 Speaker 1: this particular day I thought about it in the very 191 00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:11,960 Speaker 1: dark terms. What am I My book farm has published, 192 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:16,920 Speaker 1: like Sienies Lucky escape from that yeah, and it was 193 00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:24,640 Speaker 1: very dark, Queny holds. At this time, Stetlana is living 194 00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:28,040 Speaker 1: in a charity hostel in what the Evening Standard dubs 195 00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:31,120 Speaker 1: the shabby end of town, a group home where the 196 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:35,120 Speaker 1: bathroom is shared and residents cook their meals communally. She 197 00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:39,080 Speaker 1: just lost a couple of close friends, including fame novelist 198 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:44,000 Speaker 1: Jersey Kazinski, who died the month before by suicide. Stetlana 199 00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:47,120 Speaker 1: is reminded of her own mother's suicide, and she thinks, 200 00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:50,200 Speaker 1: if Jersey has nothing to live for with his literary fame, 201 00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:55,280 Speaker 1: then what chance does she have. As she stands there 202 00:14:55,400 --> 00:14:58,360 Speaker 1: on the edge of the bridge, perhaps she feels ready 203 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:01,880 Speaker 1: to join her friends her mother in what she maybe 204 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:06,400 Speaker 1: imagines as a more peaceful place. But as she's struggling 205 00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:10,280 Speaker 1: in her pencil skirt, somebody gretnam that they at be 206 00:15:10,440 --> 00:15:15,000 Speaker 1: done and pulled me back. Steed Lana is saved by 207 00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:17,760 Speaker 1: a man she thinks must be an angel, and as 208 00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:20,640 Speaker 1: he pulls her back to safety, speed Lana struggling in 209 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:24,920 Speaker 1: his grasp, he shouts, oh, these godless people as I 210 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:32,200 Speaker 1: was fighting are off. I am nobody us and she 211 00:15:32,320 --> 00:15:37,200 Speaker 1: was holding me there. The police take her home and 212 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:40,760 Speaker 1: make her promise not to do it again. As far 213 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:44,280 Speaker 1: as suicide attempts go, speed Lana relays this one with 214 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:48,160 Speaker 1: a surprising amount of irony and humor. And that's what 215 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:52,560 Speaker 1: I love so much about her. It's so characteristically set 216 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:55,760 Speaker 1: to be able to look back at her most vulnerable moment, 217 00:15:56,120 --> 00:15:58,760 Speaker 1: a moment when she was willing to actually end at all, 218 00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:04,960 Speaker 1: and well, laugh. Of course, now I think they last 219 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:08,840 Speaker 1: next day, not maybe last next day. Maybe yah. Yeah. 220 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:12,440 Speaker 1: That laughter. It was something she'd been taught by many 221 00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:15,840 Speaker 1: people in her life. It was her antidote to tragedy. 222 00:16:16,240 --> 00:16:21,160 Speaker 1: It's a saving grace, yes, but it was always that. 223 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:24,800 Speaker 1: It was always on the version you could lay, you 224 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:28,080 Speaker 1: could laugh, and you could, but the last thing would 225 00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:32,200 Speaker 1: be laugh. You could cry, you could laugh, but the 226 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:36,040 Speaker 1: last thing would be laugh. You can hear it, can't you? 227 00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:39,240 Speaker 1: In her laughter, spet Lana was able to take a 228 00:16:39,280 --> 00:16:44,360 Speaker 1: step back from the pain. In nineteen ninety seven, speed Lana, 229 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:47,840 Speaker 1: now seventy one, returns to Wisconsin for the last time 230 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:50,320 Speaker 1: to live with her twenty six year old daughter, and 231 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:52,840 Speaker 1: for the rest of her life she'll do something she's 232 00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:58,080 Speaker 1: never done. She'll stay put. Mother and daughter wouldn't live 233 00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:01,400 Speaker 1: together long, but Olga would always be her closest friend, 234 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:05,160 Speaker 1: her confidant, her protector, and with help from those who 235 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:07,560 Speaker 1: loved and cared for her, set Lana would get to 236 00:17:07,600 --> 00:17:11,200 Speaker 1: live out the rest of her days somewhat anonymously. I 237 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:14,280 Speaker 1: think many people did not even realize who she was. 238 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:17,720 Speaker 1: I mean, she was private. We called her Lana. That's 239 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:21,400 Speaker 1: Bridget Roberts, who works at the community library in downtown 240 00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:25,520 Speaker 1: Spring Green. After we visited Taliessen, my producers and I 241 00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:28,040 Speaker 1: wandered around, hoping to get a glimpse of what spet 242 00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:30,679 Speaker 1: Lana's day to day might have looked like. When we 243 00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:33,720 Speaker 1: spoke to Bridget, who was just as friendly, chipper and 244 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:37,440 Speaker 1: hushed as a Midwestern library administrator should be, we asked 245 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:40,480 Speaker 1: her if she knew spet Lana. Yes, she came in 246 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:45,680 Speaker 1: on this library many times. Oh, I definitely knew her, 247 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:47,600 Speaker 1: and she would come in. She loved to sit over 248 00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:50,560 Speaker 1: in the reading area and just read books. I took 249 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:52,600 Speaker 1: her home a few times because I said, Lana, you 250 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:54,639 Speaker 1: can't walk all the way home, you know, with it. 251 00:17:55,119 --> 00:17:58,879 Speaker 1: But a very very sweet lady and really private. I 252 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:02,360 Speaker 1: love that image of spent Lana Aluyeva or I guess 253 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:06,400 Speaker 1: Lana Peters a short, quiet woman in our seventies, spending 254 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:09,680 Speaker 1: her days in the library, reading and reading and reading 255 00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:14,080 Speaker 1: until closing time. She's sort of an older Russian Matilda, 256 00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:18,960 Speaker 1: someone seemingly ordinary who was in fact extraordinary. I think 257 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:22,240 Speaker 1: she felt comfortable here and safe, and like I said, 258 00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:24,760 Speaker 1: many people just knew her is Lana. I don't know 259 00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:28,000 Speaker 1: if they really knew what the connection was, but I 260 00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:33,200 Speaker 1: think really everyone who knew that connection really respected her 261 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:36,520 Speaker 1: because she did not like the limelight or any of 262 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:40,119 Speaker 1: that kind of stuff sped. Lana had always claim she 263 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:43,080 Speaker 1: didn't want the limelight, though I'm not convinced that that 264 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:46,679 Speaker 1: was always true yet certainly by this time in her 265 00:18:46,720 --> 00:18:50,840 Speaker 1: life she worked very hard to stay anonymous, so much 266 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:53,800 Speaker 1: so that even now when I meet people who knew her, 267 00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:56,440 Speaker 1: they feel like it is their duty to protect her. 268 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:00,520 Speaker 1: Like when my producer Alison and I were interviewing Allen 269 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:04,639 Speaker 1: historian Kieren Murphy and uncovered her connection to set. Towards 270 00:19:04,640 --> 00:19:08,159 Speaker 1: the end of our conversation, I'm just curious, since you 271 00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:11,719 Speaker 1: recounted that memory of Lana, what the context was of 272 00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:16,840 Speaker 1: you getting to know her. I lived above spet Lana 273 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:21,680 Speaker 1: Kieren admitted she'd been purposefully hiding this detail. She had 274 00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:26,880 Speaker 1: a house with a second floor, and I lived up 275 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:31,160 Speaker 1: in that apartment. During these years, people would sometimes enquire 276 00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:34,879 Speaker 1: about fet Lana's whereabouts. It was just in the air 277 00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:39,080 Speaker 1: because people had heard that she was back from Europe, 278 00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:42,520 Speaker 1: and so they would ask me if I knew her, 279 00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:46,600 Speaker 1: if I met her. Kieren would always say, I don't 280 00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:49,920 Speaker 1: know where she is right now to throw them off 281 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:54,480 Speaker 1: the scent. My joke was always like, I did not know. 282 00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:58,919 Speaker 1: Was fet Lana in her living room? Was fet Lana 283 00:19:58,960 --> 00:20:03,880 Speaker 1: at the library? Was Fetlana getting her mail? I don't know. 284 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:07,520 Speaker 1: Even though Karen lived in the same house as Lana, 285 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:10,840 Speaker 1: she kept a polite distance. She knew that set Lana 286 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:14,280 Speaker 1: was wary and weary of people oggling her. The first 287 00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:17,000 Speaker 1: time that I met her was very sweet, but in 288 00:20:17,119 --> 00:20:21,119 Speaker 1: my head, I'm going, oh my god, you're Stalin's daughter. 289 00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:25,080 Speaker 1: Oh my god, you're Stalin's daughter. Like that's screaming in 290 00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:28,280 Speaker 1: my head, you know, while I'm talking to this very 291 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:34,360 Speaker 1: nice woman, but it's overwhelming. Just what did set Lana 292 00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:37,600 Speaker 1: say at one time? Like nobody can control who their 293 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:40,639 Speaker 1: parents are. And she was like, I wish my mother 294 00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:51,080 Speaker 1: had married a carpenter. To her Spring Green neighbors. Launa 295 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:54,080 Speaker 1: Peters was this sweet old lady who spent her days 296 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:57,720 Speaker 1: quietly reading in the library. To her daughter, she was 297 00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:01,560 Speaker 1: still the hilarious, big, complex personality that she had always 298 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:05,000 Speaker 1: been in our conversations. Her daughter told me that she 299 00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:08,240 Speaker 1: and speed Lana dressed up as the Golden Girls Dorothy 300 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:11,760 Speaker 1: and Sophia Petrillo for Halloween. That sped Lana would curse 301 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:14,479 Speaker 1: in Russian at her typewriter. She was a terrible typer, 302 00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:18,720 Speaker 1: yelling the Russian equivalent of motherfucker or more literally, mother 303 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:21,760 Speaker 1: raper at the keys if they got stuck. That speed 304 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:25,800 Speaker 1: Lana was always writing, always reading, always brewing some witchy 305 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:28,880 Speaker 1: old world salth that was good for aches and pains. 306 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:33,240 Speaker 1: But to the outside world, Speed Lana had become something 307 00:21:33,359 --> 00:21:36,840 Speaker 1: of a legend, a fun fact. Have you heard Stalin's 308 00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:41,960 Speaker 1: daughter lives in bumble Fuck, Wisconsin. Journalists, filmmakers, biographers all 309 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:44,320 Speaker 1: tried to reach out to speed Lana, but at this 310 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:47,399 Speaker 1: point in her life she felt so burned and harassed 311 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:51,280 Speaker 1: that she put up a wall. Right. My first letter 312 00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:52,760 Speaker 1: heard said, Hey, an Nick, I want to write about 313 00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:54,320 Speaker 1: your life she'd be run it away because she didn't 314 00:21:54,320 --> 00:21:58,959 Speaker 1: want the attention. That's Nicholas Thompson. Nick is now the 315 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:01,800 Speaker 1: CEO of the Atlanta. Back in two thousand and six, 316 00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:04,919 Speaker 1: he was writing a book about George Kennon and reached 317 00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:07,720 Speaker 1: out to spet Lana as a source. They soon became 318 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:11,479 Speaker 1: penpal's traded phone calls, and when Nick eventually visits her 319 00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:16,080 Speaker 1: in Wisconsin, he meets an older Spetlana, a quieter one. 320 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:19,359 Speaker 1: Her hair has gone white, she walks with a cane, 321 00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:22,760 Speaker 1: and she's living in a senior citizen's home, her father's 322 00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:26,639 Speaker 1: Russian English dictionary on the bookshelf. He recalls her having 323 00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:29,959 Speaker 1: the welcoming energy of someone who hadn't told her story 324 00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:37,000 Speaker 1: in a long time. Their conversations were long and numerous. 325 00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:40,800 Speaker 1: Spetlana gifted him poignant insights about Kennon, the subject of 326 00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:43,800 Speaker 1: his book, and didn't hold back from giving him personal 327 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:47,600 Speaker 1: advice either. They became friends. I feel lucky that I 328 00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:49,360 Speaker 1: met her. I felt lucky that I got to talk 329 00:22:49,359 --> 00:22:54,120 Speaker 1: to her. I really like I enjoyed those years a letter, 330 00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:57,240 Speaker 1: not just as a writer or as a reporter Jack 331 00:22:57,320 --> 00:22:59,240 Speaker 1: sometimes gone in the way, but just as a person 332 00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:02,160 Speaker 1: so I was very grateful to have had her as 333 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:06,520 Speaker 1: like an older friend. Nick would eventually pen a wonderful 334 00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:09,840 Speaker 1: piece in The New Yorker called My Friend Stalin's Daughter. 335 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:12,360 Speaker 1: It was one of the first pieces I ever read 336 00:23:12,359 --> 00:23:16,480 Speaker 1: about her. She was an extraordinary mix of emotions and 337 00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:20,680 Speaker 1: intensities and passions in a way that I found utterly compelling. 338 00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:26,439 Speaker 1: Like Nick and so many others, I too have found 339 00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:30,760 Speaker 1: her wildness, her daring, her thoughtfulness, her impulsiveness, all of 340 00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:35,560 Speaker 1: her contradictions intoxicating. She's a cocktail I want to keep 341 00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:41,600 Speaker 1: drinking forever. I don't know if the inner turmoils that 342 00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:45,720 Speaker 1: Lana had experienced in her life was ever resolved, whether 343 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:49,320 Speaker 1: she had quieted down because she finally found balance, or 344 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:54,520 Speaker 1: that she had just gotten older. She still struggled with money. 345 00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:58,520 Speaker 1: She's still cycled between senior homes. She never forgave her 346 00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:03,720 Speaker 1: father and saw and repurposing his playbook, but still, by 347 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:07,399 Speaker 1: her daughter's account, she found some sense of peace end 348 00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:13,240 Speaker 1: of laughter in her final years. By twenty eleven, speed 349 00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:18,040 Speaker 1: Lana is diagnosed with colon cancer. Sensing she's at the 350 00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:20,919 Speaker 1: end of her days, speed Lana pends a letter and 351 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:24,640 Speaker 1: gives it to her lawyer, and in November, of course, 352 00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:32,040 Speaker 1: she passes away at the age of eighty five. This letter, 353 00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:35,760 Speaker 1: written by speed Lana to her daughter, her last great story, 354 00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:39,400 Speaker 1: is delivered in the aftermath of her death from beyond 355 00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:43,479 Speaker 1: the grave. It's a loving letter about how she's joining 356 00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:46,880 Speaker 1: her ancestors and how she's now watching from the other side. 357 00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:51,199 Speaker 1: She ends it with a scribbled note saying sorry for 358 00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:55,440 Speaker 1: the bad typing, alas it did not improve even from here. 359 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:02,200 Speaker 1: Whatever you want to call all her spet Lana Aluyeva, 360 00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:09,679 Speaker 1: Luana Peters, you have to admit she got the last laugh. Actually, 361 00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:12,680 Speaker 1: her daughter got the last laugh when she threw a 362 00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:15,760 Speaker 1: party on the beach to scatter her mom's ashes into 363 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:19,280 Speaker 1: the Pacific Ocean, hoping no one would notice and issue 364 00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:27,440 Speaker 1: her a fine. It was a fitting end laughter and tears, 365 00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:31,600 Speaker 1: a group of friends in the sand drinking wine, casting 366 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:57,439 Speaker 1: stet Lana out to sea. More after the break, Act 367 00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:04,200 Speaker 1: three curtains Scheherazade was able to stay alive through her storytelling. 368 00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:08,480 Speaker 1: She'd cleverly chop her stories in half, finishing one and 369 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:12,119 Speaker 1: starting the next in the same night, making her bloodthirsty 370 00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:15,639 Speaker 1: husband salivate. For the end of the tale, instead of 371 00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:18,760 Speaker 1: the end of her life. It's in this way that 372 00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:23,320 Speaker 1: Scheherazade created a kind of never ending story, And though 373 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:26,720 Speaker 1: that was certainly not spet Lana's intention, I kind of 374 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:29,960 Speaker 1: feel like she's done that for me. Each chapter of 375 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:32,800 Speaker 1: her life oddly linking to the next one in a 376 00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:35,800 Speaker 1: way that makes you want to be a detective, understanding 377 00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:39,879 Speaker 1: the links, piecing them all together. Why did she defect 378 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:42,720 Speaker 1: to the US, Why did she go to tally Esen, 379 00:26:43,119 --> 00:26:45,600 Speaker 1: Why did she marry wes Why did it have to 380 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:48,880 Speaker 1: happen so fast? Why did she return to the USSR? 381 00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:52,600 Speaker 1: Why did she come back? She writes about all of 382 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:56,560 Speaker 1: these big life moves in separate books, but she doesn't 383 00:26:56,600 --> 00:27:00,320 Speaker 1: connect the dots. I don't disagree with the editor who said, 384 00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:04,000 Speaker 1: it's quote one damn thing after another. So the why 385 00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:08,680 Speaker 1: keeps me searching. Looking back on her eighty five years 386 00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:12,000 Speaker 1: of life, it's easy to see her as a tragic figure. 387 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:15,479 Speaker 1: A New York Times obituary calls her life a quote 388 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:22,000 Speaker 1: bewildering road ending in decades of obscurity, wandering and poverty. 389 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:26,520 Speaker 1: That is so mean, you guys, And look, it's true. 390 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:30,639 Speaker 1: Everything that she had gained by defecting in nineteen sixty seven. 391 00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:33,240 Speaker 1: It seems that she had lost by the end of 392 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:37,280 Speaker 1: her life. Before Roger and Harold met up with spelt Lana, 393 00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:39,920 Speaker 1: they were warned by her friend how poor she was. 394 00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:44,160 Speaker 1: It's the end of the month, and her welfare check 395 00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:47,320 Speaker 1: will ever run out, and you know she probably will 396 00:27:47,359 --> 00:27:50,080 Speaker 1: not offer you any drinks or you think to eat. 397 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:55,760 Speaker 1: So yes, by some standards, American capitalist standards twenty first century, 398 00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:58,560 Speaker 1: everyone wants to be famous, standards where there are winners 399 00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:01,800 Speaker 1: and losers in life. Sped Lana had lost it all. 400 00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:05,040 Speaker 1: That's how I was characterizing her to Nicholas Thompson when 401 00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:07,320 Speaker 1: I sat down with him, and I was blown away 402 00:28:07,359 --> 00:28:10,680 Speaker 1: when he corrected me. She seemed like a great American immigrant, 403 00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:16,120 Speaker 1: right like, Yeah, just came here and became something entirely new. 404 00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:19,040 Speaker 1: I think. I mean she broke out of one life, 405 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:21,720 Speaker 1: created a new one, had a whole bunch of ups 406 00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:25,080 Speaker 1: and downs. But I don't think of her story as 407 00:28:25,119 --> 00:28:28,280 Speaker 1: a tragic one at all. It had tragic elements, but 408 00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:31,159 Speaker 1: was not a tragic story. She lived a very full life. 409 00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:35,600 Speaker 1: She lived a fascinating life. She lived an emotionally invigorating life. 410 00:28:36,400 --> 00:28:40,920 Speaker 1: She had a fulfilled life. There were lots of upslots 411 00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:45,320 Speaker 1: and downs, massive regrets, but I certainly don't think of 412 00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:50,320 Speaker 1: it as a tragedy. As a writer trying to understand her, 413 00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:53,800 Speaker 1: it's easy to get lost and sped Lana's life. He 414 00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:57,320 Speaker 1: sped Lana. Herself got lost in it too. But Thompson 415 00:28:57,480 --> 00:29:01,240 Speaker 1: is right. Sped Lana story may have tragic elements, but 416 00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:04,160 Speaker 1: it's not a tragedy. At one point, she even said 417 00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:09,600 Speaker 1: so herself. Sometimes, if you are interested to listen to 418 00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:13,120 Speaker 1: one of the most funny stories of our time, my 419 00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:16,760 Speaker 1: paradoxical life, I would be glad to tell you more. 420 00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:20,800 Speaker 1: It is your saga, an irony, is the tire and 421 00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:24,680 Speaker 1: the tragedy all in one. I'm glad I have survived 422 00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:28,480 Speaker 1: it all, and I'm still an optimist, but I do 423 00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:31,280 Speaker 1: laugh a lot at myself, and if I lose that 424 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:37,640 Speaker 1: mess of tupacity, my end will come fast. A saga, 425 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:42,360 Speaker 1: an irony, a satire, a tragedy. That was what drew 426 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:45,720 Speaker 1: me to spetlana story in the first place, the tale 427 00:29:45,760 --> 00:29:48,400 Speaker 1: of a woman who did everything in her power to 428 00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:52,040 Speaker 1: shuffle off the shackles of one life, only to thrust 429 00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:54,800 Speaker 1: herself into the cage of another. And then to do 430 00:29:54,840 --> 00:29:58,920 Speaker 1: it over and over again, each time intersecting with the 431 00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:02,360 Speaker 1: most bizarre ca arcters of history. This is what made 432 00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:05,120 Speaker 1: me want to write her into a play, a play 433 00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:08,520 Speaker 1: that itself would be all of the things that she was, 434 00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:13,760 Speaker 1: all of the things that I am. When I started 435 00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:16,920 Speaker 1: the process of writing about set Lana, I knew that 436 00:30:16,920 --> 00:30:19,800 Speaker 1: that was where I wanted to take the story. What 437 00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:23,440 Speaker 1: I didn't expect was where the story would take me 438 00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:28,040 Speaker 1: on trips to Scottsdale. Welcome to the Terminal three, a 439 00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:35,200 Speaker 1: Phoenix International Airs on tours of Wisconsin. Your destination is 440 00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:41,560 Speaker 1: on the left, we see. Thank you so much this. Yeah, 441 00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:48,040 Speaker 1: I'd become friends with authors Roger Friedland and Harold Zellman. Oh, Roger, 442 00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:51,240 Speaker 1: you sound beautiful. I want you to read me the Bible. 443 00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:56,080 Speaker 1: I'd be happy to you know that, Sodom and Gomora 444 00:30:56,200 --> 00:31:02,560 Speaker 1: Parts and Sharon. The love for stet Lana with biographer 445 00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:06,760 Speaker 1: Rosemary Sullivan. Your affection for Steve Lana moves me. I 446 00:31:06,800 --> 00:31:12,520 Speaker 1: mean she really matters to you. Yeah, she does. I 447 00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:16,960 Speaker 1: get to meet people who knew stet Lana funny, smart, interesting. 448 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:19,880 Speaker 1: She always had like a funny quip. You know, she 449 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,600 Speaker 1: had great stories. It's just a total pleasure to talk 450 00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:24,880 Speaker 1: with her, and I'd get out of a trap that 451 00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:29,360 Speaker 1: I and stet Lana and so many writers always fall into. 452 00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:32,600 Speaker 1: I'd find a gang of artists who were not only 453 00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:39,280 Speaker 1: my champions, but my collaborators, my comrades, Adam Webber, Alison Joy, 454 00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:44,400 Speaker 1: and Catherine Isaac, the Stetlanits as I call us as. 455 00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:52,760 Speaker 1: Someone pick a tone and we're all gonna harmonize. Wait no, yeah, yeah, 456 00:31:52,920 --> 00:32:05,840 Speaker 1: not sound terrible. All right, Alison, you go again. Yeah, 457 00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:15,880 Speaker 1: I feel like this is Ultimately We've told this tale 458 00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:19,600 Speaker 1: with humor. It was honestly the most reverential way I 459 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:22,600 Speaker 1: could tell it, and I hope, against hope that spet 460 00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:26,080 Speaker 1: Lana would get the joke, or maybe not. The woman 461 00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:29,400 Speaker 1: certainly had lots of opinions, but I wouldn't have her 462 00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:33,760 Speaker 1: any other way. It's because of our fearless storytellers, our 463 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:38,280 Speaker 1: spet Lana's are Shahrazads, that we have these never ending 464 00:32:38,360 --> 00:32:43,840 Speaker 1: stories to tap into. It's been more than ten years 465 00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:46,920 Speaker 1: since she died, and spet Lana's life story and her 466 00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:52,400 Speaker 1: writing have changed me. I'm calmer now, just kidding, I'm 467 00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:55,480 Speaker 1: really not. I'm still the same messy person I always was. 468 00:32:56,080 --> 00:32:59,160 Speaker 1: I just know that you can leap fearlessly into the 469 00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:02,480 Speaker 1: next chapter of your life and rest assured that you'll 470 00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:08,400 Speaker 1: retain all of your glorious, fabulous flaws. That, among many 471 00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:12,640 Speaker 1: other things, is what her life means to me. I 472 00:33:12,760 --> 00:33:16,080 Speaker 1: hope spent Lana's life has meant something to you. It 473 00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:19,680 Speaker 1: would seem that she hopes so too. She closes her 474 00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:23,760 Speaker 1: last book, a Book for Granddaughters, with this parting thought, 475 00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:28,200 Speaker 1: The hope of this writer is that the memoirs of 476 00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:32,520 Speaker 1: my generation will be appreciated by those who never knew 477 00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:36,520 Speaker 1: our times. Our books will help them to understand not 478 00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:42,040 Speaker 1: only another era, but different people. And granddaughters of all 479 00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:45,959 Speaker 1: colors and creeds not only mine, will then find on 480 00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:52,040 Speaker 1: these old fashioned pages strange and unreal situations, but also 481 00:33:52,280 --> 00:33:56,479 Speaker 1: some familiar faces. So the next time you have an 482 00:33:56,480 --> 00:33:59,440 Speaker 1: impulse to throw your life up into the air, blow 483 00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:03,360 Speaker 1: it up, crash into a new chapter, think of spent 484 00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:07,400 Speaker 1: Lana and know that, sure you just might lose everything, 485 00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:13,080 Speaker 1: but you'll have one hell of a story. Let's drink 486 00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:17,640 Speaker 1: to that, but not vodka. Svetlana preferred a gin and tonic. 487 00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:24,560 Speaker 1: Vodka she said was for peasants. My name is Dan Katroser, 488 00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:31,839 Speaker 1: and this was spet Lana spent Lana. St Lana spent 489 00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:35,520 Speaker 1: Lana is a production of iHeart Podcasts and the documentary group. 490 00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:39,000 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Dan Katroser. The show is written and 491 00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:42,479 Speaker 1: produced by me and my friends Adam Webber, Alison Joy, 492 00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:46,560 Speaker 1: and Katherine Isaac. We also serve as executive producers at 493 00:34:46,560 --> 00:34:50,240 Speaker 1: the documentary group. Our executive producer and all around fairy 494 00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:54,440 Speaker 1: godmother is job A Silhouettes. Production oversight by Stacy Kleiger, 495 00:34:54,680 --> 00:34:59,120 Speaker 1: additional support from Tom Yellen and Gabrielle Tenenbaum. Our iHeart 496 00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:04,000 Speaker 1: team is supervising producer Casey Pegram and executive producer Maya Howard. 497 00:35:04,360 --> 00:35:08,520 Speaker 1: Editing assistants from producers Christina Loranger and Joey pat These 498 00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:12,520 Speaker 1: folks went above and beyond and were forever grateful. Original 499 00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:17,759 Speaker 1: music by Elan Izakov, Your Brilliant Buddy. Production counsel by 500 00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:22,040 Speaker 1: slas Ekhouse, Dasty Haynes Lockoe, Clearance counsel by Ballard Sparr 501 00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:26,600 Speaker 1: Jay You're Our Hero. Fact checking assistance by Meghan Trout. 502 00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:30,719 Speaker 1: Excerpts from spit Lana Alujeva's book, A Book for Granddaughters 503 00:35:30,800 --> 00:35:36,280 Speaker 1: are performed by Cassie Greer. Cassie, along with Alyssa, Josh Luanne, Sean, 504 00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:39,880 Speaker 1: Sherry Beth and Line Storm Playwrights, helped me develop my 505 00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:42,560 Speaker 1: play and we're some of my earliest partners in crime. 506 00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:46,680 Speaker 1: Thank you all. Big thanks to parents Neil and Diane 507 00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:49,239 Speaker 1: for taking me on the best trip to Amherst, and 508 00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:52,080 Speaker 1: my cousin Jenny and her fiance Jared for going on 509 00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:55,040 Speaker 1: multiple tours of tally Esen West with me and show 510 00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:58,880 Speaker 1: furring me around Arizona. I'm so glad I don't drive. 511 00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:02,360 Speaker 1: And thank you to the partners of our writing and 512 00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:06,560 Speaker 1: producing team who have added so much to this project emotionally, 513 00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:12,600 Speaker 1: spiritually and creatively Jeff Wooker, Jonathan Willen, and Lena Vaughan. Lena, 514 00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:15,000 Speaker 1: you are the one who said this story should be 515 00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:19,000 Speaker 1: a podcast. So grateful for all of your support. And 516 00:36:19,239 --> 00:36:23,160 Speaker 1: lastly to my husband Jordan Siegel. You've been there with 517 00:36:23,239 --> 00:36:26,520 Speaker 1: me every step of the way during this project. You 518 00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:29,839 Speaker 1: must be exhausted. Thank you.