ANATOLY KURCHATKIN | |
| Anatoly Kurchatkin was born in Sverdlovsk, now Yekaterinburg. He graduated from the Moscow Literary Institute in 1972 and his eagle eye has been chronicling the changes in Russian society ever since. Critics describe him as ‘a student of human behaviour with a firm belief in basic principles of human decency’. A master of dialogue, his writing has the resonance of parable. He has won numerous prizes over the years, and his novels have been dramatized by the Moscow Art Theatre and turned into feature films. One of the most European of contemporary Russian writers, his work has been translated into ten languages. |
  | Anatoly Kurchatkin Tsunami Translated by Arch Tait Glagoslav London, 2017 Hardback, £29.50 ISBN 978-1-91141-430-8 Paperback, £22.15 ISBN 978-1-91141-429-2 e-Book (ePub, Kindle, pdf) £9.95 ISBN 978-1-91141-431-5 354 pages Translation kindly supported by the Institute for Literary Translation, Russia | |
Anatoly Kurchatkin’s novel, set in Russia and Thailand, ranges in time from the Brezhnev years of political stagnation, when Soviet values seemed set to endure for eternity, through Gorbachev’s Perestroika and the following tumultuous and disorientating decaes. Under the surface, ancient currents are influencing the destinies of mathematician Rad, art gallery owner Jenny, entrepreneur (and spy?) Dron, American investor Chris, redundant Soviet diplomat Yelena and Thai playboy Tony in a rapidly globalizing world of laptop computers, mobile phones, credit cards and international finance. The fourteenth-century battle in which the Prince of Muscovy, inspired by St Sergius of Radonezh, defeated the Golden Horde of the Mongol Empire foreshadows a modern struggle for the soul of Russia. Though Anatoly Kurchatkin’s Tsunami is personably Russian, it is no piece of light fiction and definitely not a book to be left behind half unread next to the pool. This novel comes highly recommended as an entertaining and fascinating read on the tangled connections between a cosmopolitan Russian and contemporary Thailand. |
