Siberia, Siberia
Encyclopedia
Siberia, Siberia is a non-fiction book by the Russian writer Valentin Rasputin
. It was originally published in Russian in 1991 by Molodaya Gvardiya Publishers. The second and third editions appeared in 2000 and 2006; an English translation is available as well.
Rasputin is a Russian novelist based in Irkutsk
in Eastern Siberia, and a master of the genre known as village prose
. His fiction centers around the conflict of the traditional Siberian village lifestyle, characterized by its family values
, unambiguous morality
, and strong connection with one's ancestral culture and natural environment, with the modernizing developments of the post-WWII period. Since the mid-1970s, he has been increasingly involved in writing non-fiction essays and article, protesting against projects he views as environmentally destructive and advocating for the restoration of "Russian national consciousness".
His Siberia, Siberia is both an excursion into the human history of the region
, and a diatribe against the industrial developments and infrastructure projects "of the last three decades" (i.e. roughly 1960-1990) that he views as wrecking not only the region's natural environments and the rural way of life, but also the very moral fibre of the nation.
; Lake Baikal
; Irkutsk
, the city on the Angara
which the author has long made his made home; Altai
; Kyakhta
, the 18-19th century entrepôt for China tea trade; and the isolated Arctic community of Russkoye Ustye
with its archaic customs and dialect. Later Russian editions had additional chapters added.
As usual in Rasputin's writing, his greatest ire is reserved for the masterminds of the river damming and water export
schemes, such as the Siberian river reversal project, which was shelved (not without Rasputin's contribution to its criticism) in 1986.
in 1996.
Valentin Rasputin
Valentin Grigoriyevich Rasputin is a Russian writer. He was born and lived much of his life in the Irkutsk Oblast in Eastern Siberia. Rasputin's works depict rootless urban characters and the fight for survival of centuries-old traditional rural ways of life...
. It was originally published in Russian in 1991 by Molodaya Gvardiya Publishers. The second and third editions appeared in 2000 and 2006; an English translation is available as well.
Rasputin is a Russian novelist based in Irkutsk
Irkutsk
Irkutsk is a city and the administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, one of the largest cities in Siberia. Population: .-History:In 1652, Ivan Pokhabov built a zimovye near the site of Irkutsk for gold trading and for the collection of fur taxes from the Buryats. In 1661, Yakov Pokhabov...
in Eastern Siberia, and a master of the genre known as village prose
Village Prose
Village Prose was a movement in Soviet literature beginning during the Khrushchev Thaw, which included works that focused on the Soviet rural communities. Some point to the critical essays on collectivization in Novyi mir by Valentin Ovechkin as the starting point of Village Prose, though most of...
. His fiction centers around the conflict of the traditional Siberian village lifestyle, characterized by its family values
Family values
Family values are political and social beliefs that hold the nuclear family to be the essential ethical and moral unit of society. Familialism is the ideology that promotes the family and its values as an institution....
, unambiguous morality
Morality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
, and strong connection with one's ancestral culture and natural environment, with the modernizing developments of the post-WWII period. Since the mid-1970s, he has been increasingly involved in writing non-fiction essays and article, protesting against projects he views as environmentally destructive and advocating for the restoration of "Russian national consciousness".
His Siberia, Siberia is both an excursion into the human history of the region
History of Siberia
The early history of Siberia is greatly influenced by the sophisticated nomadic civilizations of the Scythians and Xiongnu , both flourishing before the Christian era. The steppes of South Siberia saw a succession of nomadic empires, including the Turkic Empire and the Mongol Empire...
, and a diatribe against the industrial developments and infrastructure projects "of the last three decades" (i.e. roughly 1960-1990) that he views as wrecking not only the region's natural environments and the rural way of life, but also the very moral fibre of the nation.
Book summary
Besides an introductory overview chapters and the conclusion, the book consists of several chapters which are dedicated to particular regions: TobolskTobolsk
Tobolsk is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh Rivers. It is a historic capital of Siberia. Population: -History:...
; Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal is the world's oldest at 30 million years old and deepest lake with an average depth of 744.4 metres.Located in the south of the Russian region of Siberia, between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast, it is the most voluminous freshwater lake in the...
; Irkutsk
Irkutsk
Irkutsk is a city and the administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, one of the largest cities in Siberia. Population: .-History:In 1652, Ivan Pokhabov built a zimovye near the site of Irkutsk for gold trading and for the collection of fur taxes from the Buryats. In 1661, Yakov Pokhabov...
, the city on the Angara
Angara River
The Angara River is a long river in Irkutsk Oblast and Krasnoyarsk Krai, south-east Siberia, Russia. It is the only river flowing out of Lake Baikal, and is the headwater tributary of the Yenisei River....
which the author has long made his made home; Altai
Altai Republic
Altai Republic is a federal subject of Russia . Its capital is the town of Gorno-Altaysk. The area of the republic is . Population: -Geography:...
; Kyakhta
Kyakhta
Kyakhta is a town in the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, located on the Kyakhta River near the Russian-Mongolian border. Population: The town stands directly opposite the Mongolian border town of Altanbulag.-History:...
, the 18-19th century entrepôt for China tea trade; and the isolated Arctic community of Russkoye Ustye
Russkoye Ustye
Russkoye Ustye is a village in Allaikhovsky Ulus of the Sakha Republic, Russia. For several decades during the Soviet era, the village was officially called Polyarny ....
with its archaic customs and dialect. Later Russian editions had additional chapters added.
As usual in Rasputin's writing, his greatest ire is reserved for the masterminds of the river damming and water export
Water export
Water exports involve exporting freshwater from one country to another. Large increases in human population and economic growth throughout the world during the twentieth century placed a huge stress on the world’s freshwater resources. Combined with climate change, they will place an even greater...
schemes, such as the Siberian river reversal project, which was shelved (not without Rasputin's contribution to its criticism) in 1986.
[W]herever dams are put up and reservoirs swell, a river ceases to be a river and becomes a disfigured beast of burden with the life squeezed out of it. After that, the river contain no fish, no life, no beauty.
Translations into foreign languages
An English translation by Margaret Winchell and Gerald Mikkelson was published by Northwestern University PressNorthwestern University Press
Northwestern University Press is the university press of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, USA.- History :Northwestern University Press was founded in 1893, at first specializing in legal periodicals. Today, the Press publishes scholarly books of fiction, non-fiction, and literary...
in 1996.