Siberia on Fire: Stories and Essays (NIU Series in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies) - Softcover

Rasputin, Valentin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0875805477 ISBN 13: 9780875805474

Publisher: Northern Illinois University Press, 1989

Synopsis

Siberia on Fire brings together some of the best stories and essays by Valentin Rasputin, widely regarded as the finest writer in the Soviet Union today. Although the people and places that make up his fiction are characteristically Siberian, Rasputin's broad appeal and international recognition stem from universal themes—the interdependent elements of nature; the cultural and historical continuum maintained by past, present, and future generations; and the clash between modern and traditional mores.

Rasputin was born in a small Siberian village on the Angara River in 1937 and educated at Irkutsk University. His work displays his continuing concern about the economic development of the vast wilderness of Siberia and its effects on the land and the people. Siberia has undergone monumental changes brought on by the excesses of Stalinism in the twenties and thirties, the losses and deprivations during World War II, and the massive construction and modernization projects of more recent decades. A prominent feature of Rasputin's fiction, often associated with the "village prose" movement, is the portrayal of a traditional way of life that is vanishing along with huge tracts of forests and three-hundred-year-old villages.

About this title

Language Notes

Text: English, Russian (translation)

From Publishers Weekly

A major contemporary Soviet writer charts the terrain of his native Siberia. Rasputin's dazzling stories are sophisticated splicings of nonchronological episodes. Of special interest is "The Fire," which analyzes the various types of chaos caused by political and social upheaval, and natural disasters, as well as their cost to the individual: "A sensitive person . . . views himself not as a doctor would, seeing primarily organs fulfilling specific functions, but as the powerful, weak-willed sovereign of an immense, incomprehensible kingdom." The nonfiction here, however, is almost redundant, returning the aesthetic transformations of the stories to their factual roots. Rasputin's essays advocating preservation of Siberia's natural resources reveal his convictions but lack documentation and proposals for change; discussions of Soviet writers Vasily Shukshin and Aleksandr Vampilov will not engage the lay reader.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Northern Illinois University Press
• Publication date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0875805477
• ISBN 13: 9780875805474
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 252