Pe vremea fluviului Amur

by Andreï Makine, Emanoil Marcu (Traducător)

Un roman ca o poveste: a fost odata un fluviu care se numea Amur. Pe vremea aceea, traiau intr-un sat siberian trei baieti pe cale de a deveni barbati: Razboinicul, Poetul, Don Juanul. Trei ape le-au impartit universul adolescentei: paraul Curentul, raul Olei si fluviul Amur, aflat la limita inchipuirii lor. In satul pierdut in imensitatile albe ale taigalei, au dorit femeia, au taiat drum in zapada si au trait primul miracol: un film cu Jean-Paul Belmondo. Occidentul navaleste in micul cinematograf Octombrie Rosu. Cei trei baieti revad filmul de saptesprezece ori la rand. Incep sa inteleaga ca exista in viata lucruri perfect apolitice, perfect amorale si straine de orice ideologie, cum ar fi niste coapse bronzate de femeie. Poate de aceea povestea incepe undeva, in Siberia, si sfarseste, candva, la New York, departe de vremea fluviului Amur.Observatia criticului: Desi reteta lui Makine este aproximativ aceeasi - sate sovietizate, aflate la capatul lumii si oameni care se agata cu toata puterea sufletului lor rusesc de un minuscul colac de salvare occidental -, fiecare dintre romanele lui are o poezie proprie.

Genres: Fiction, Russia, France, Coming Of Age, Literary Fiction, Russian Literature, 20th Century

218 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1993

About the author

Andreï Makine was born in Krasnoyarsk, Soviet Union on 10 September 1957 and grew up in city of Penza, a provincial town about 440 miles south-east of Moscow. As a boy, having acquired familiarity with France and its language from his French-born grandmother (it is not certain whether Makine had a French grandmother; in later interviews he claimed to have learnt French from a friend), he wrote poems in both French and his native Russian.

In 1987, he went to France as member of teacher's exchange program and decided to stay. He was granted political asylum and was determined to make a living as a writer in French. However, Makine had to present his first manuscripts as translations from Russian to overcome publishers' skepticism that a newly arrived exile could write so fluently in a second language. After disappointing reactions to his first two novels, it took eight months to find a publisher for his fourth, Le testament français. Finally published in 1995 in France, the novel became the first in history to win both the Prix Goncourt and the Prix Medicis plus the Goncourt des Lycéens.