Road to Nowhere

Road to Nowhere is the first part of a wartime dilogy about the fate of the Polish-Lithuanian borderlands. Its significance far exceeds the scope of the historical novel genre; the factual content and psychological depth of its characters elevate it above other works that attempt to describe the Sovietisation of Poland and Lithuania.

The main character, Paweł, is a journalist living near Vilnius who tries to avoid contact with Soviet ideology by all possible means, for example, by immersing himself in work felling trees or as a carter. He refuses to adapt his life to the demands of communism. That is why he despises his former friend Karol, who has accepted the role of an interpreter of Marxism-Leninism. Consequently, he was interrogated by the NKVD and, despite the threat of deportation to a labour camp, refused to sign an agreement to cooperate with the regime.

In Road to Nowhere, Mackiewicz portrays the birth of Homo Sovieticus, brought about by an all-pervasive fear.

Józef Mackiewicz (1 April 1902, Saint Petersburg – 31 January 1985, Munich) was a Polish writer, novelist, and political commentator. He is best known for his documentary novels Nie trzeba głośno mówić (No Need to Speak Aloud) and Droga donikąd (Road to Nowhere). He was an opponent of communism and defined himself as an "anti-communist by nationality". He died in exile.