
August is traditionally women-in-translation month in the world of book-blogging and book-twitter. My blog is dedicated to the predominantly male world of 19th century Russian literature, but nowadays there are many great and interesting female writers out there, so why not digress a bit?
Lyudmila Ulitskaya
Let’s start with Lyudmila Ulitskaya. I once saw her at the Helsinki book fair, where she was so popular that the auditorium where she was speaking was literally filled to the brim with people eager to see her. I loved her novel The Kukotsky Enigma (Казус Кукоцкого) about a gynaecologist with a special gift who marries one of his patients, set against the background of communist Russia. Ulitskaya’s characters are people you know and care about from the first page on which they are introduced. And most importantly: her work has that special quality that so much of the best Russian literature has: it’s life-affirming.
Ludmilla Petrushevskaya
Another Moscow based author is Ludmilla Petrushevskaya. She too focuses on family life in Soviet times. The recurring themes in her work are poverty, abuse, envy, alcoholism, unhappy love and unfulfilled ambitions. Although this may be something that many women in the former Soviet Union struggled with, her stories are surprisingly free from politics; the enemy is not the state, but the daughter-in-law who is after your apartment. Her stories may be dark, but so is her sense of humor. They always have a surprising ending that leaves you something to think and laugh about.
Tatyana Tolstaya
Then we have the stories of Tatyana Tolstaya, the granddaughter of the writer Aleksey Tolstoy and a distant relative of Lev Tolstoy and Ivan Turgenev. Being born into such a family she had big shoes to fill, and she pulls it off very well. She definitely has her own distinct voice. Her stories start off perfectly normal, but at some point they turn into something impossible. One of the story collections is called Aetherial Worlds and that sums up her work pretty well: unearthly. I have a copy of her (only) novel The Slynx still waiting for me.
Guzel Yakhina
Guzel Yakhina’s Zuleikha (Зулейха́ открыва́ет глаза́), translated by Lisa Hayden, is set in Tatarstan. Zuleikha is a young Tatar woman who is sent to Siberia during the dekulakization. In Siberia she is forced to built a new life, literally from scratch, and there she discovers her own strengths and talents. Yakhina based the story on the experiences of her own grandmother and on eye-witness accounts from other dekulakization survivors. This intricate novel is a real page-turner; there are frequent cliff-hangers which leave the reader in suspense for whole chapters.
Banine
Now we move to the Caucasus, starting with Banine’s wonderful memoire Days in the Caucasus. Banine paints a colourful and delightful picture of her childhood in Baku (Azerbaijan) and the family’s summer house by the sea, set at the beginning of the 20th century. Her enormous (her words) grandmother is the head of the family, and besides praying five times a day, she loves to gossip, play poker and swears like a sailor. I hope that the wonderful Pushkin Press will also publish the sequel, Days in Paris.
Narine Abgaryan
A tiny and remote village in the mountains of Armenia is the setting for Narine Abgaryan’s Three Apples Fell from the Sky, another translation by Lisa Hayden. The village is so remote that even goats find the path leading to the village scary. The villagers live in their tiny world, unaffected by modern technology. The passage of time is noted by the seasons and just like in ancient times each villager has a particular trade, so that they can get by without needing the rest of the world, simply referred to as ‘the valley’ or ‘the North’, too much. This idyllic place is, however, plagued by all kinds of disasters. Abgaryan’s enchanting and charming book will keep you guessing until the last page.
Nino Haratischvili
Finally Nino Haratischvili, who gave us more than 900 pages to read with The Eighth Life, translated from German by Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin. Nino Haratischvili was born in Tbilisi in 1983 and moved to Germany in 2003. She clearly is a born storyteller and her pleasure in writing and love for Georgia shine through on every page. The Eighth Life tells the (his)story of the Jashi family through six generations of women, spanning about 100 years from the beginning of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century.
The world is tough, but so are you!
A common thread seems to be a need to go back to the Soviet era and somehow validate the suffering experienced by the authors themselves and/or their ancestors. Not in the raw manner of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, but much more relatable, and always with at least a glimmer of hope on the horizon.
What were your highlights and discoveries this women-in-translation month?
By the way, I made a more extensive series for #WITMonth on my Instagram @arussianaffairig
*****
Text and photo © Elisabeth van der Meer 2020
A truly fantastic summary of seven authors, Elisabeth!
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Lovely list! I thought the Tolstaya was wonderful!
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I’m embarrassed to say I’ve read none of these! They all sound so interesting though, plenty for me to explore. Thank you Elisabeth!
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Thank you, Dave!
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Thanks, Karen! So did I, and I’m very curious about The Slynx. Have you read it yet?
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Thanks, Bibi! Perhaps I’ve inspired you 😉
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Thanks! Some great reading suggestions there.
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Thanks, Elena! Glad to have inspired you!
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Elisabeth, you have sent me on a wild and joyful ride through Russian literature. I have saved this post to follow-up on these books. I have found a couple on Audible, which I will read while walking on the Vancouver Seawall starting in September. It has been too hot this August. Books allow us to enter a new world, experience diverse cultures, locations and time periods. The other day, Don reminded me that “If we stand still, the world will come to us.” You have brought Russia to Vancouver. Thank you, my dear friend.
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Definitely!
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Not yet – not sure if I’m up to dystopian at the moment…
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Thank you for a wonderful introduction to these authors. I’m bookmarking this page for my TBR list, and trust it qualifies as my “discovery” of women in translation month. Oh, and I just remembered Marina Sofia of “findingtimetowrite” who co-owns Corylus Books which specializes in translating novels into English.
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This is great… I have only read Ulitskaya (but only The Funeral Party, not the one you mention, and Haratischvili which would have been my book of the year last year if I included international authors in my summary.
Have you made a list of these at Goodreads? I can do it for you if you haven’t… that way we can add them to wishlists and track progress as we follow them up.
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I can relate! But someone on Twitter wrote: “You’re in for a treat when you get to The Slynx – terribly amusing, terribly wry. Clever, literate, funny and sly.”
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Thank you, Mary Jo, I’m happy to hear that I’ve inspired you. Corylus Books sounds very interesting and I’m now following ‘findingtimetowrite’, thanks for the tip!
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Hey Lisa, thank you for stopping by. How was The Funeral Party? I haven’t read it yet. I enjoyed The Eighth Life too, and I was glad that due to the virus I had more time to read, at least one good thing;-) I have not made a list at Goodreads, I’m not sure how to do that, so please feel free to make one. Have a nice day!
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Hi Elisabeth, I’ve done it, see https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/152263.Women_in_Translation_Russia_USSR_
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The most interesting book for me of all you mentioned in the list is “The Kukotsky Enigma” by Lyudmila Ulitskaya. All of the authors, actually, have some interesting books and probably for people who do not know about Soviet life it is interesting to read them. However for me personally it is too much and nothing really new, just some additional episodes of the horrible soviet reality.
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Exciting! Will have to add these to my Goodreads “to-read” list!
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This was one of those moments when I saw one of Ludmilla Petrushevskaya’s titles (There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby: Scary Fairy Tales), and I wonder “How did I not know about this book?” *laugh*
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That’s great, thank you so much!
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I can understand that it may be too much for you personally. As you say, for many people literature is a good way to learn about this period in history.
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Great! Please check the list that Lisa made:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/152263.Women_in_Translation_Russia_USSR_
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I had the same experience when I first came across one of her books in the bookstore!
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Rad!
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Definitely will!
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Really helpful for anyone wanting to delve into this great literature!
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Thanks, dear!
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Hello, I’m so glad that Ulitskaya is in your list! She’s definitely in my top 10 favorite authors. I saw her at a book signing and she was so happy to find that young people were reading her books (she also did’nt know what a selfie was). A Russian friend also recommended The Kukotsky Enigma, but the plot just doesn’t interest me. I highly recommend Sonietchka if you haven’t already read it. I will definitely check out Tatyana Tolstaya and Banine (I assume she wrote in French?) Thank you for this awesome list 🙂
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PS: I checked out your blog because of its awesome title 😉
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Hey Emalie! Thank you for stopping by ☺️ I also saw Ulitskaya once in real life, but I wasn’t lucky enough to talk to her. I haven’t read Sonietchka yet, but I definitely will!
Banine wrote in French, yes. The English translation that I read was excellent. Tolstaya is very interesting, she wrote some very good stories.
Take care and happy reading ☺️
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Glad you like it!
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The Eighth life blew me away when I read it earlier this year. Such a talent! I haven’t heard of the others, you’ve given me more ideas now! Thanks.
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Absolutely! Such a talent for storytelling. I also loved all the different generations. And I really felt as if I was there in Tbilisi with them.
Zuleikha is also very good.
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I am a noob with Russian literature and their writers but you have intrigued my mind! Gonna dive straight in to explore more about them.
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Hey Shruti, thanks for stopping by my blog. I hope that you will enjoy Russian literature 😊 Happy reading!
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