Alexander Zinoviev, 83; Wrote Satirical Novels of Soviet Life

Alexander Zinoviev, 83, a prominent author whose biting satires of life under communism caused him to be exiled for more than 20 years, died Wednesday, Moscow State University confirmed. No cause of death was given.

Zinoviev’s “The Yawning Heights,” a satire of Soviet society published in Switzerland in 1976, led to his ouster from the Academy of Sciences and his dismissal from the Communist Party.

He was finally expelled from the Soviet Union after the publication of his next novel, “Radiant Future” (1978), which satirized Leonid Brezhnev. He immigrated to West Germany with his wife and daughter and was stripped of Soviet citizenship. He also wrote a number of other books that were severely critical of Soviet communism.

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev restored Zinoviev’s Soviet citizenship in 1990, but Zinoviev still lashed out at his reforms and the policy of Russian President Boris Yeltsin after the Soviet collapse.

Zinoviev also came to regret his own criticism of the Soviet Union, saying he was “aiming at communism but hit Russia.”

In 1999, he returned to Russia and became a professor at Moscow State University.