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Be as Children
At the centre of Be as Children is an ailing Vladimir Lenin, infected not with syphilis, as some historians have claimed, but with Christian fervour. Regressing stroke by stroke to an infancy of his own, he renounces his faith in the proletariat and puts all his hope in the many children left homeless and orphaned by the Civil War. Only they will be loyal to the cause and only they can save it. Around this story Sharov weaves two other plots: a murderer who converts a Siberian people to Christianity and the life story of a female holy fool. Epic in scope and highly original in execution, Be as Little Children shows exactly why, since his untimely death in 2018, Vladimir Sharov has been widely celebrated in Russia as one of the few outstanding novelists of his era and a true heir to the classic authors of the nineteenth century.
Reviewing Vladimir Sharov’s The Rehearsals in The Los Angeles Review of Books, Caryl Emerson described it as possibly 'the most ambitious attempt since Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita to integrate biblical plots and the terror of the Living God into the fabric of Russia’s horrific 20th century'. Be as Children, which Sharov completed in 2007, might be described in similar terms.
Reviewing Vladimir Sharov’s The Rehearsals in The Los Angeles Review of Books, Caryl Emerson described it as possibly 'the most ambitious attempt since Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita to integrate biblical plots and the terror of the Living God into the fabric of Russia’s horrific 20th century'. Be as Children, which Sharov completed in 2007, might be described in similar terms.
434 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
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About the author
Vladimir Sharov
16 books11 followersVladimir Alexandrovich Sharov (Russian: Владимир Александрович Шаров, April 7, 1952 – August 17, 2018) was a Russian novelist who was awarded the Russian Booker Prize in 2014 for his novel Return to Egypt (Возвращение в Египет).
Vladimir Sharov was born in April, 1952 in Moscow, Russia. His father, Alexander Sharov (Shera Nurenberg), was a well-known Soviet children's writer. Sharov grew up in Moscow where he attended secondary school at the State Physics and Mathematics Lyceum of Moscow. He studied history at the Voronezh State University. In 1984, Sharov defended his thesis on the historiography of the Time of Troubles and Ivan the Terrible's secret police, the Oprichnina. Sharov lived in Moscow. He gave guest lectures on Russian history, literature and culture at international universities such as Harvard, Lexington VA, Cologne, Rome, Zurich as well as Oxford and Cambridge. He was a member of PEN International.
Vladimir Sharov was born in April, 1952 in Moscow, Russia. His father, Alexander Sharov (Shera Nurenberg), was a well-known Soviet children's writer. Sharov grew up in Moscow where he attended secondary school at the State Physics and Mathematics Lyceum of Moscow. He studied history at the Voronezh State University. In 1984, Sharov defended his thesis on the historiography of the Time of Troubles and Ivan the Terrible's secret police, the Oprichnina. Sharov lived in Moscow. He gave guest lectures on Russian history, literature and culture at international universities such as Harvard, Lexington VA, Cologne, Rome, Zurich as well as Oxford and Cambridge. He was a member of PEN International.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 30, 2022
With three main overlapping and inter-weaving narrative strands, this is an ambitious, complex work, requiring knowledge some of Russian history’s more obscure wanderings. Be warned: as professor Caryl Emerson remarks (p 477) in her useful Afterword “Sharov called his novels ‘parables’ and expected his reader to put in serious interpretative work.”
A central premise of the novel is that innocence is rarely found anywhere other than in young children, hence the Church’s interest in, attention to and depiction of the Infant Jesus. This, too, gives the work its title, via Christ’s injunction: ”Be as children, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.” I am a great admirer of Sharov, and if this novel doesn’t seem to be as successfully executed as other works of his I have read, that is perhaps because he was attempting more.
A central premise of the novel is that innocence is rarely found anywhere other than in young children, hence the Church’s interest in, attention to and depiction of the Infant Jesus. This, too, gives the work its title, via Christ’s injunction: ”Be as children, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.” I am a great admirer of Sharov, and if this novel doesn’t seem to be as successfully executed as other works of his I have read, that is perhaps because he was attempting more.
April 20, 2021
Довольно сложный, но сильный и умный роман об истоках и мотивах революции. О том, что библейская фраза "будьте как дети, ибо их есть царствие небесное" обманчива, ибо становясь детьми, мы превращаем мир вокруг нас в чрезвычайно яркий, но в то же время двухцветный: есть только черное и белое, и кто не с нами, тот против нас. О том, что взрослеть и принимать взрослую жизнь со всеми её бедами и невзгодами очень сложно, но это единственный путь к богу.
Как обычно у Шарова, реальность и судьбы рядовых людей причудливо переплетаются с альтернативной историей и религиозными мотивами: тут и история северного народа энцев, которых обратил в христианство беглый убийца Перегудов (и которые в болотах Полесья сражались с белополяками с помощью оленей, на рогах которых установлены пулеметы), и судьба полуюродивой Дуси, мечущейся между двумя духовниками и фактически обрекающей на смерть своего мужа, брата и детей, и рассказ о Ленине, под конец жизни прозревшем и понявшем, что нужно вести за собой не пролетариат к коммунизму, а детей в Иерусалим.
В общем, довольно непростое, но умное и увлекательное чтение.
Как обычно у Шарова, реальность и судьбы рядовых людей причудливо переплетаются с альтернативной историей и религиозными мотивами: тут и история северного народа энцев, которых обратил в христианство беглый убийца Перегудов (и которые в болотах Полесья сражались с белополяками с помощью оленей, на рогах которых установлены пулеметы), и судьба полуюродивой Дуси, мечущейся между двумя духовниками и фактически обрекающей на смерть своего мужа, брата и детей, и рассказ о Ленине, под конец жизни прозревшем и понявшем, что нужно вести за собой не пролетариат к коммунизму, а детей в Иерусалим.
В общем, довольно непростое, но умное и увлекательное чтение.
May 10, 2022
An odd but intriguing epic encompassing the whole of Russian 20th century history (and pseudo history). A complex work and one that will need at least one re-reading to grasp its subtleties I think.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews