The Life of an Unknown Man - Rilegato

Makine, Andreï; Makine, Andrei

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0340998784 ISBN 13: 9780340998786

Casa editrice: Sceptre, 2010

Riassunto

Jilted by his girlfriend and disillusioned by modern France, the writer Shutov revisits St Petersburg after twenty years in exile, hoping to reconnect with his roots and the woman he loved in his youth. But she, and the brash new Russia that greets him, are not what he was expecting at all. Then he encounters Volsky, a fellow relic of the Communist era who relates his story: of surviving the Siege of Leningrad, the march on Berlin and Stalin's purges, and of a transcendent love affair. It is a tale of extraordinary endurance and courage, yet the old man considers himself unexceptional. Fortunate, too, for he and the woman he loved knew great happiness. To Shutov, his story comes as a revelation, and an inspiration. In this powerful and moving novel, Andrei Makine explores what truly matters in life through the prism of Russia's past and present. Drawing on his own experience of growing up in the Soviet Union, he poses an unsettling question: for all its horrors, was life under Communism richer than it is now? In the story of just another unknown, unsung hero lies an answer...

Su questo libro

Recensione:

Makine's laconic, sardonic portrait of the new Russia is laced with fury...a bold and eloquent novel (Helen Dunmore, Guardian)

Like all his work, this novel has a wonderful flavour of a contemporary Checkhov with a splash of Proust...What starts out an intimate account bursts out into something more ambitious and universal. Ultimately it's a haunting story, beautifully told. (Viv Groskop, Observer)

Makine is a consummate literary artist, but he is teacher as well as storyteller and, best of all, enchanter (Allan Massie, Scotsman)

Seamlessly translated by Geoffrey Strachan, Makine's novel explores the attempt of two 'ordinary' people to transcend suffering and find life's essential meaning. It is difficult to write without sentimentality about such a subject, but Makine's intelligence and truthfulness dismiss banality. (Pamela Norris, Literary Review)

A powerful, thoughtful book about the reliability of memory and how time mutates the meaning of both literature and history. (Tina Jackson, Metro)

His novels possess an eerie beauty invariably capable of surpassing the polemic...If he has an artistic kindred spirit it is most probably the South African Nobel laureate JM Coetzee (Eileen Battersby, Irish Times)

Thrilling...Makine's most beautiful novel since Le Testament Français (Le Figaro)

Descrizione del libro:

An extraordinary story of love and endurance during the Siege of Leningrad lies at the heart of a magnificent novel about Russia past and present, and the human condition.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Sceptre
• Data di pubblicazione: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0340998784
• ISBN 13: 9780340998786
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 256