“Catastroika,” by Charles Rammelkamp, works to tell the story of Russian history, its influence on American, and the harsh realities of Russian Jewish life through the past century, all with a focus on one strong, inspiring woman, practically lost to history: Maria Rasputin.

Charles Rammelkamp received an MA in English Literature from Boston University and an MA in Publication Design with a Specialization in Creative Writing from the University of Baltimore.  He has published a novel, The Secretkeepers (Red Hen Press), two collections of short fiction, A Better Tomorrow (PublishAmerica) and Castleman in the Academy (March Street Press), and four previous collections of poetry, The Book of Life (March Street Press), Fusen Bakudan (Time Being Books), and two previous titles from Apprentice House,  Mata Hari: Eye of the Day and American Zeitgeist. Two recent poetry chapbooks ae also available: Jack Tar’s Lady Parts (Main Street Rag Press) and Me and Sal Paradise (FutureCycle Press).

Rammelkamp worked as a technical writer for various companies and organizations throughout his career, including the Social Security Administration, from which he retired in 2014.  He edited The Potomac: A Journal of Politics and Poetry for ten years and is currently Prose Editor for BrickHouse Books in Baltimore and Reviews Editor for The Adirondack Review.  He lives in Baltimore with his wife, Abby, to whom he’s been married for about a million years.  They have two daughters and two grandchildren.

Q: What is it that drew you to Maria Rasputin’s story, and why did you decide to write on her life, as opposed to her better-known father? Was there anything particularly pressing about her life that you felt needs more attention in studies of Russian or American history?

A:  I was originally drawn to Maria’s father as the subject of a poetic sequence, but I realized that he’d already attracted the attention of so many writers, for being such a controversial figure. What was one more? As I researched his background, his daughter caught my eye. I thought I could still write about her father, but through her, a different perspective, and man, doesn’t her life make an interesting story! Historically, of course, she’s a marginal character, but still…

Q: Did you face any challenges in writing the poems from the point of view of Maria? Was it difficult, as a man, writing in the voice of a woman? Was there anything in her story that you really connected with?

A: It’s always a challenge to try to enter the persona of an historical person, male or female. I did have the advantage of reading her own book about her father (written with a ghost writer) and getting a sense of her perspective. I’ve always been drawn to strong female historical characters, such as Mata Hari. Maria’s pluck certainly attracted me to her. What a survivor!

Q: Why did you feel the need to incorporate the counter-narrative of Sasha? What was it that inspired you to create that character and explore his story and its ties to Russian history?

A: A fictional character gives you a little more imaginative leeway, though strictly, Sasha’s commentary on Russian history is pretty factual, if seen through the eyes of someone who experienced virulent anti-Semitism. But Sasha’s own history was mine to invent, so it was nice to place him, eventually, in Baltimore. Fort one thing, I didn’t feel so slavishly tied to facts, in developing his character, but important aspects of Russian history are still seen through his eyes, the anti-Semitism that spans both tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union.

Q: A book like this must have required a lot of research, and Russia has a rich history. Were there any historical moments that you felt especially needed to be told, or anything that you learned while researching for this project that was particularly striking?

A: I was interested in Rasputin’s changing reputation. He was revered as a saint by some and denounced as a depraved satyr by others. The Communists vilified him, for his association with the Romanovs, but with the fall of Communism, his reputation was somewhat resurrected. This is almost a barometer of Russian civilization. Also, the status of Jews in Russia was of interest to me. Sasha was named for Alexander II, the “tsar liberator,” though after his assassination, life got tougher for Jews. Lenin and Trotsky were Jews, but in general Jews didn’t fare any better under Stalin and the Communists.

Q: How did you go about the research for this book? Were there any resources that were particularly impactful, or any information that you felt especially needed to be included?

A:  Two very thick histories of the period by Douglas Smith, Former People and Rasputin: Faith, Power and the Twilight of the Romanovs, were my way in, and those led to Maria’s memoir and lots and lots of internet searches.

Q: There are elements of the narrative that resemble the story of Aron Simanovich; was any of that intentional? Was there any poem in particular, or even any aspects of Sasha’s character or Maria’s characterization, that was inspired or informed by his life?

A: Rasputin’s Jewish secretary, Simanovich, was helpful to Rasputin’s family after his murder, which demonstrated a real affection for the man. Rasputin’s thinking about Jews evolved.  At first he saw them as damned, the spawn of the devil, but in time he called Jews “equal before God.” (See “Call Me Sasha”).  In a time of violent anti-Semitism, Rasputin demonstrated a real humanity here, which I think shines a light on his character. Hardly the demon his enemies portrayed. “Simochka,” as Maria affectionately called him, returned kindness with kindness. The poem, “Rasputin the Healer,” gets at this. 

Q: How faithful were you able to remain to the historical story? Did you change or omit any aspects of Maria’s life in order to portray her in a different light, keep audience attention, or follow a particular narrative path?

A: In some accounts, Maria was kind of heartless to her first husband, Boris Solovyov, who seems to have died trying to support their family, in exile, but I didn’t want to get into this, though you might be able to read between the lines in “Maria Rasputin Marries.”   But in general, I did not change facts. Even with the fictional character, Sasha, I consulted books to make sure I had the Baltimore of the early 20th century accurate, particularly Jewish Baltimore.

Q: You’ve written a few other books like this; did you learn anything from those experiences that you carried on to this project? Is there any particular process or approach that you use to create these unique books?

A:  This is my fifth project in this “genre” (or whatever it is – historical poetic sequences). I’ve injected a more fictional aspect into the narrative each time, I think. I invented a sort of parody bigot character in Fusen Bakudan, the story of the only Americans who were killed in the continental United States in World War II, but all of the characters in Mata Hari: Eye of the Day were historical people, though I may have put words in their mouths. But starting with American Zeitgeist, which featured a fictional journalist, Jefferson Powers, I’ve found blending fact and fiction more rewarding, even without deviating from the historical record.  Sasha feels more personal to me than Maria, because he’s my invention.  

Q: Why did you choose to tell this story through poetry? Does that form of writing offer any advantages to prose? Any limitations?

A:  I kind of see this story and the other historical fictions as being like plays, dramatic presentations. The characters speak, the action is conveyed through voices. I have written prose fiction, but it’s been a while. You don’t really have to create so much narrative background with this approach.  

Q: Is there any historical, cultural, or other such significance to the title? Why did you choose Catastroika to be the face of the book, so to speak?

A: Thanks for this question! I originally only had the seed an idea about this project, starting with Rasputin, the legendary libertine, and then it appeared to me, as the book took shape, that it was really also not just about the characters in the story but about Russia itself. This was at a time when our whole national attitude toward Russia seemed to be changing – the president’s attitude toward our historic adversary (at least since the end of World War Two), an almost obsequious deference to the ex-KGB spymaster, Putin, and his party’s grudging acquiescence, even as evidence of Russia’s malign intent toward democracies in general and our own in particular continues to mount.  So then the idea of shining a light on “the Russian character” seemed to be important, to understand where we are in this pivotal historic moment. So I toyed with some silly titles, like “From Russia with Hate,” a play on the Cold War James Bond novel. But then it seemed to me that the whole chaotic mess could be summed up in that word “Catastroika,” the title of one of the poems, which originally was an ironic Russian joke about Gorbachev’s economic plan, Perestroika, which literally means “restructuring.”  Of course, Cataatroika starts and ends before Putin came to power, so there’s absolutely no editorializing about current events in the story.