Laurel
14.99 €
In stock
Laurel
14.99 €
Yevgeny Vodolazkin is the author of the novel Solovyov and Larionov (a finalist for the Big Book Prize and the Andrei Bely Prize), the essay collection Instrument of Language, and other books.
A philologist and specialist in Old Russian literature, he dislikes historical novels, "their obsessive ethnographicism - kokoshniks, povoyniki, ports, zipuns" and other dull stylization. Using the intonations of Old Russian texts, Vodolazkin whimsically mixes different epochs and linguistic elements, giving the reader not a herbarium, but a living bouquet.
The hero of the new novel "Lavr" - a medieval doctor. Possessing the gift of healing, he nevertheless cannot save his beloved and decides to pass the earthly way instead of her. Thus life becomes a hagiography. He nurses the plague and the wounded, the poor and the infirm, and the more he sacrifices himself, the stronger his gift becomes. But is it possible to save the human soul by love and sacrifice, without saving its earthly shell?
There are things that are easier to talk about in the Old Russian context. For example, about God. It seems to me that connections with Him used to be more direct. The important thing is that they simply were. Now the question of these connections occupies few people, which is puzzling. Have we learned something radically new since the Middle Ages that allows us to relax?
Evgeny Vodolazkin
A philologist and specialist in Old Russian literature, he dislikes historical novels, "their obsessive ethnographicism - kokoshniks, povoyniki, ports, zipuns" and other dull stylization. Using the intonations of Old Russian texts, Vodolazkin whimsically mixes different epochs and linguistic elements, giving the reader not a herbarium, but a living bouquet.
The hero of the new novel "Lavr" - a medieval doctor. Possessing the gift of healing, he nevertheless cannot save his beloved and decides to pass the earthly way instead of her. Thus life becomes a hagiography. He nurses the plague and the wounded, the poor and the infirm, and the more he sacrifices himself, the stronger his gift becomes. But is it possible to save the human soul by love and sacrifice, without saving its earthly shell?
There are things that are easier to talk about in the Old Russian context. For example, about God. It seems to me that connections with Him used to be more direct. The important thing is that they simply were. Now the question of these connections occupies few people, which is puzzling. Have we learned something radically new since the Middle Ages that allows us to relax?
Evgeny Vodolazkin
See also:
- All books by the publisher
- All books by the author
- All books in the series New Russian classics