| Synopsis: |
This is a beautiful translation by John Farndon (with Olga Nakston) of the late Ravil Bukharaev's literary existential masterpiece that seeks to reconcile his Muslim faith with the pursuit of his ideals and his search of self and understanding of life, particularly his notions of 'authenticity' which although conflicted by it as a person and human being, it is what framed his world view. Throughout their long marriage, the poets Ravil Bukharaev and Lydia Grigorieva have written in separate rooms in their home. In this deeply felt and poetic memoir, Ravil writes to Lydia to explain at last things left unsaid in their great love for each other. With immense honesty and insight, he explores how their journey together has been shaped by his profound Muslim beliefs and his lifelong search for what is authentic and true. Along the way, he creates beautiful and moving vignettes of eight very different people struggling to find meaning in their life, from old Elizaveta Osipovna, alone in her Moscow flat, to proud Arzhana coping with a tough life in the Altai mountains. The honesty and transparency informing this epistolary novel-essay is at times both stunning and stupendous.In the author's own words, here is 'an attempt by a man to have it out with his loved one, which is all the more difficult in view of the most vital and crucial condition of such an exchange - complete and total sincerity'. Ravil Bukharaev was a celebrated writer, poet and scholar of religious, cultural and political history of his native Tatarstan and author of over thirty books. |