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Siberia on Fire: Stories and Essays
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.
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.
252 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1989
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About the author
Valentin Rasputin
98 books52 followersSee also: Валентин Распутин
Valentin Grigoriyevich Rasputin (Russian: Валентин Григорьевич Распутин; born March 15, 1937 in village of Ust-Uda in Irkutsk Oblast, Russian Federation) was a Russian writer. He was born and lived much of his life in the Irkutsk Oblast in Eastern Siberia. Rasputin's works depict rootless urban characters and the fight for survival of centuries-old traditional rural ways of life. Rasputin covers complex questions of ethics and spiritual revival.
Valentin Grigoriyevich Rasputin (Russian: Валентин Григорьевич Распутин; born March 15, 1937 in village of Ust-Uda in Irkutsk Oblast, Russian Federation) was a Russian writer. He was born and lived much of his life in the Irkutsk Oblast in Eastern Siberia. Rasputin's works depict rootless urban characters and the fight for survival of centuries-old traditional rural ways of life. Rasputin covers complex questions of ethics and spiritual revival.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 28, 2021
After a month of savoring Valentin Grigorievich Rasputin's works (need to catch-up on my reviews on those), I am in awe of this son of Atalanka (in Irkutsk), who had always stayed-put in Irkutsk, Siberia, for all his life. (Even when he visited the USA in 1985, he opted to stay in the agrarian mid-western state of Kansas).
Although Siberia on Fire, is the fourth book of his that I read, this being my first review of his book, I want to start from the very quote that he gave to The New York Times on December 22nd, 1985.
Albeit Rasputin being an admitted fan of Fyodor Dostoevsky and Ivan Bunin, the "Village Prose" of Rasputin's stories flow with utter simplicity and Chekhovian frugality. The plots are simple, characters are handful, settings are native, rustic, and intensely reflective of the truth and conscience of the very land he projects with his single flick of pen and fate. As he himself quotes Leo Tolstoy in one of the essays, "The artist is an artist only because he sees things as they are rather than the way he wants to see them," the reader can immediately see what Rasputin portrays as things that simply are!
In the stories and essays that flow from this Son of Siberia's pen, we are inexorably catapulted into the salubrious Siberia, picking berries above in the taigas above Lake Baikal, or witnessing the flow of River Angara, or watching in awe whatever goes on at the local kolkhozes and become witness to the very happenings laid bare before us.
If Siberia had only meant gulags and concentration-camps and all that is negative for you, you are assured of molting all those memories for imbibing this fascinating real, rural Siberia, where people lead simple lives with traditional values of truth, honesty, and ancestral beauty combined together with a moral sense of duty. In his world, you will be entreated to a crow as a messenger, a fire as an avenger, or a teacher as your co-player.
With very few characters, with no abstruse plots, things happen in Rasputin's world. A dilemma, a problem, a tragedy, a separation...Whatever it is, it happens. And just like the mighty River Angara, life moves on. As Heraclitus would say, "Everything flows (panta rhei)".
That forms the basis of the 6 short-stories and 6 essays that adorn this collection.
Vasily and Vasilisa (1966) -- beautifully presents an estranged old couple's moral dilemma of being able to safeguard their humanity without losing it to their aversion for their other. 4 stars.
French Lessons (1973) -- is a wonderful, semi-autobiographical tale of Rasputin's own French Teacher and her compassionate altruism, which ultimately lands her into trouble. Despite the poignant ending, the silver-lining of this tale is that several decades later the author was able to meet his teacher in person. 5 stars.
Live and Love (1981) -- is a wonderful, coming of age tale, of a teenager going to pick berries in the deep interior of the taigas above Lake Baikal. This truly captivated me (just like French Lessons) in a sense, I was vicariously transported to the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, Lake Baikal, and that terrific night at the taiga, collecting berries on the return. 5 stars.
What Should I Tell the Crow (1981) -- is again, a semi-autobiographical, philosophical take of Rasputin as a loving and doting father of his young daughter (he also had a son, in his real life), which was soulfully appealing to me as a Father of a daughter, myself. 4.5 stars.
The Fire (1985) -- is a testimony to Rasputin's mettle. This is a novella, unlike the other 5 short-stories. At a logging-town, a fire breaks out in one of the warehouses. That is all it takes for him to weave a realistic story that captures the helpless moments of a town under disintegration, with Rasputin providing the moral-compass with an environmentally-conscious zeal, that instantaneously disports us to Farewell to Matyora novel. 4.5 stars.
Auntie Ulita (1985) -- is an extremely short-story about two old women in his village, with their own folk-wisdom and chatter. 3 stars.
The rest of the 6 essays were superb in their own right. Rasputin's penchant thoughts on his native land, ecosystem, environment, forests, etc. come to the fore naturally. His pen bleeds of his love and concern for his land. That he had thought about the deleterious effects of man's greed as in massive industrialization without a plan to protect the endangered Baikal region etc.,shows how prescient his concerns were 4 decades ago, as we are pretty much hanging on to those very arguments, facing the very same existential threats in 2021, all the more on a global scale!
Your Siberia and Mine (1984) -- 5 stars
How Did They End Up in Irkutsk? (1984) -- 4 stars
Baikal (1981) -- 5 stars
What We Have: A Baikal Prologue Without An Epilogue (1987) -- 5 stars
Your Son, Russia, and Our Passionate Brother: On Vasily Shukshin (1984) -- 5 stars
The Truths of Aleksandr Vampilov (1977) -- 5 stars.
The reason I love Valentin Rasputin's is because of his absolute integrity to the land and home he is so fond of: Siberia. Here he is in his own words. I think, he just lived out those words, stodgily never moving out of Irkutsk, Siberia until he breathed his last in 2015.
Or, elsewhere in the essay on Vasily Shukshin, "Remember this: Be a human-being."
Although Siberia on Fire, is the fourth book of his that I read, this being my first review of his book, I want to start from the very quote that he gave to The New York Times on December 22nd, 1985.
"Our profession demands courage and every book is the victory of a martyr who selects each word with great pains so that conscience and truth should glow in it with a single flick of pen and fate."
Albeit Rasputin being an admitted fan of Fyodor Dostoevsky and Ivan Bunin, the "Village Prose" of Rasputin's stories flow with utter simplicity and Chekhovian frugality. The plots are simple, characters are handful, settings are native, rustic, and intensely reflective of the truth and conscience of the very land he projects with his single flick of pen and fate. As he himself quotes Leo Tolstoy in one of the essays, "The artist is an artist only because he sees things as they are rather than the way he wants to see them," the reader can immediately see what Rasputin portrays as things that simply are!
In the stories and essays that flow from this Son of Siberia's pen, we are inexorably catapulted into the salubrious Siberia, picking berries above in the taigas above Lake Baikal, or witnessing the flow of River Angara, or watching in awe whatever goes on at the local kolkhozes and become witness to the very happenings laid bare before us.
If Siberia had only meant gulags and concentration-camps and all that is negative for you, you are assured of molting all those memories for imbibing this fascinating real, rural Siberia, where people lead simple lives with traditional values of truth, honesty, and ancestral beauty combined together with a moral sense of duty. In his world, you will be entreated to a crow as a messenger, a fire as an avenger, or a teacher as your co-player.
With very few characters, with no abstruse plots, things happen in Rasputin's world. A dilemma, a problem, a tragedy, a separation...Whatever it is, it happens. And just like the mighty River Angara, life moves on. As Heraclitus would say, "Everything flows (panta rhei)".
That forms the basis of the 6 short-stories and 6 essays that adorn this collection.
Vasily and Vasilisa (1966) -- beautifully presents an estranged old couple's moral dilemma of being able to safeguard their humanity without losing it to their aversion for their other. 4 stars.
French Lessons (1973) -- is a wonderful, semi-autobiographical tale of Rasputin's own French Teacher and her compassionate altruism, which ultimately lands her into trouble. Despite the poignant ending, the silver-lining of this tale is that several decades later the author was able to meet his teacher in person. 5 stars.
Live and Love (1981) -- is a wonderful, coming of age tale, of a teenager going to pick berries in the deep interior of the taigas above Lake Baikal. This truly captivated me (just like French Lessons) in a sense, I was vicariously transported to the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, Lake Baikal, and that terrific night at the taiga, collecting berries on the return. 5 stars.
What Should I Tell the Crow (1981) -- is again, a semi-autobiographical, philosophical take of Rasputin as a loving and doting father of his young daughter (he also had a son, in his real life), which was soulfully appealing to me as a Father of a daughter, myself. 4.5 stars.
The Fire (1985) -- is a testimony to Rasputin's mettle. This is a novella, unlike the other 5 short-stories. At a logging-town, a fire breaks out in one of the warehouses. That is all it takes for him to weave a realistic story that captures the helpless moments of a town under disintegration, with Rasputin providing the moral-compass with an environmentally-conscious zeal, that instantaneously disports us to Farewell to Matyora novel. 4.5 stars.
Auntie Ulita (1985) -- is an extremely short-story about two old women in his village, with their own folk-wisdom and chatter. 3 stars.
The rest of the 6 essays were superb in their own right. Rasputin's penchant thoughts on his native land, ecosystem, environment, forests, etc. come to the fore naturally. His pen bleeds of his love and concern for his land. That he had thought about the deleterious effects of man's greed as in massive industrialization without a plan to protect the endangered Baikal region etc.,shows how prescient his concerns were 4 decades ago, as we are pretty much hanging on to those very arguments, facing the very same existential threats in 2021, all the more on a global scale!
Your Siberia and Mine (1984) -- 5 stars
How Did They End Up in Irkutsk? (1984) -- 4 stars
Baikal (1981) -- 5 stars
What We Have: A Baikal Prologue Without An Epilogue (1987) -- 5 stars
Your Son, Russia, and Our Passionate Brother: On Vasily Shukshin (1984) -- 5 stars
The Truths of Aleksandr Vampilov (1977) -- 5 stars.
The reason I love Valentin Rasputin's is because of his absolute integrity to the land and home he is so fond of: Siberia. Here he is in his own words. I think, he just lived out those words, stodgily never moving out of Irkutsk, Siberia until he breathed his last in 2015.
Pondering life in all its twists and turns during long disjoined periods of reflection, Ivan Petrovich came to one conclusion. For a person to feel fairly good about life, he must be at home. That's right, at home. Above all else, he must be at home --not just housed somewhere but at home within himself, in his own inner domain where everything has a fixed, long-established place and purpose. Then you're at home in your house or apartment, from which you go off to work on the one hand and return to yourself on the other. And you're a home in your native land.
Or, elsewhere in the essay on Vasily Shukshin, "Remember this: Be a human-being."
January 28, 2019
Memories sometimes appear right out of nowhere, without any external cause, it would seem, and they take on a certain life all their own.
And there's nothing simpler than getting lost in yourself.
To someone who doesn't have it, independence seems so fascinating and attractive that he would give up anything for it.
And there's nothing simpler than getting lost in yourself.
To someone who doesn't have it, independence seems so fascinating and attractive that he would give up anything for it.
January 7, 2008
A nice book of short stories about rural life in Siberia.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews