Farewell to Matyora (European Classics)

Beautifully written. There's a magical realism element to this story that took me to places I didn't expect to go. I don't know too much about Russian history, but it spoke to me of how the life of the Russian peasant didn't change much from the time of the Tsars to the time of the Soviets. I think the author knew his subjects well and wrote with authority. He bared the souls of his characters and in the process opened their lives to me. I haven't read much Russian fiction but will be doing so in the future.

This is a book I liked for sentimental reasons about Communist Russia in the twentieth century.

Farewell to Matyora depicts the picturesque peasant's paradise (in the eye of the beholder) where a commune of peasants has lived and worked from as far back as their memory can harken, and then farther still. However, the reality of the construction of a hydroelectric dam downstream and the inevitable flooding of their island home steadily creeps in upon the consciousness of the villagers. Rasputin's masterpiece of Village Prose tracks this progression of increasing awareness of the approaching fate and the disparaging ways in which the villagers cope with, as well as bid their goodbyes to their beloved home and are forced into the city. A definitive story of the time and a true homage to the fleeting village life.

A lovely way to introduce one to Russian novelists

It was so dull that I can't remember if there was violence - I think not. No sex that I remember. Wasn't first person I think. I tried it because of the NYTimes Review. Silly Me!

Farewell to Matyora is an exceptionally beautiful and poignant novel. A story about one of those Russian villages flooded when Russia built a series of hydro-electric dams under Stalin, Valentin Rasputin's book is composed of the remembrances of Darya and a few other elderly villagers facing their last summer in their ancestral home. The tale is deeply affecting (Darya's distress at not being able to move the graves of her ancestors at the end will bring tears to the eyes of anyone who has recently lost someone), and the scene of her in the graveyard on the last night, as well as the one of her cleaning and whitewashing her house on its last day, is almost unbearably moving. This book goes on that very short list of my 5-10 favorite books of all time.

Valentin Rasputin's "Farewell to Matyora" is an outstanding work of Russian literature that I highly recommend. Of course, such novels are better read in their native language, but for those of us who don't read Russian (I fortunately do!), this novel may be one of the only English-language translations available and, as such, is a great boon.Valentin Rasputin has been called one of the most important voices of the post-Stalin era of Soviet literature. Indeed, it has been compared to Solzhenitsyn's masterpieces "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch" and "Matyora's Home." One of Rasputin's shining graces is that he openly exposes the inward charms of Russian character and culture.The story itself is about the destruction of a village to make way for a Soviet hydroelectric dam project. The dynamics between the older and younger members of the village and their feelings about their imminent departure from a place that has been home to them their whole lives forms the central conflict and interest of the novel. At the same time, the author reveals some of the deep-seated values about the relationship between man and nature that are key to Russian culture.The blurbs on the back of the novel had a statement that I wanted to share:"A haunting story with a heartfelt theme, `Farwell to Matyora' is a passionate plea for humanity and an eloquent cry for a return to an organic life."My strongest criticism of the novel is that the translator in many places seemed to come up short with ways to adequately portray the nuance and charm that are some of Rasputin's strongest charms in his native Russian. In many places the English translation did a very poor job of conveying the Russian meaning. I compared the Russian original to the English translation several times throughout the novel. I feel that the translator simply wasn't up to the task although I certainly don't think I could do a better one. Translation is an art, and, at that, a fickle one.One of my favorite little phrases that the translator decided to keep was "Japanese Gods," which is a euphemism for cursing in Russian that a charming old codger of a character frequently repeats in his efforts to keep from actually cursing around another character that he considers is a "lady."Read "Farewell to Matyora" because it's a charming novel for a lover of Russian literature. I highly recommend it.Review by: Maximillian Ben Hanan

The outstanding novel of the Russian Village Prose school, Farewell to Matyora decries the loss of Russian peasant culture to the impersonal, soulless march of progress. Rasputin, an important rightist politician and environmentalist in the Soviet Union today, argues that mankind can only be spiritually regenerated by returning to the old, rural way of life. Translated by Antonina W. Bouis, with a foreword by Kathleen Parthe