Valentin Rasputin, a Village Sage

21/1/2011
Avdeeva G., Yakhontova Nina, Avdeeva Galina

On January 21, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill awarded
this year’s laureates of the prize established by the International Foundation of Unity of Orthodox Peoples. One of them is 73-old Valentin Rasputin, a well-known writer from Siberia.

The document which outlines the reason for awarding Mr. Rasputin says: “Valentin Rasputin’s books teach high morals – something which today’s society badly lacks.”

One may agree that is a rather hard thing to teach high morals and to say the truth – if it is not time-serving, but eternal truth. The truth is like a medicine – it can be bitter, but it cures in the end.

Valentin Rasputin was born and spent his childhood in a village near Irkutsk, Siberia. He debuted as a writer in 1970 with the novel “The Last Term.” The message of this novel is that a career and money means nothing if you’ve forgotten your roots. In fact, the novel is about every person, for everyone is a child of his or her mother. It is a connection with one’s mother which gives one strength to survive and fills one’s life with meaning. This and other Rasputin’s novels and short stories have been translated into dozens of languages.

Every book by Mr. Rasputin became a sensation – not only of literature, but of public life as well.

Literature critic Lev Annensky says:

“Valentin Rasputin started in the Soviet time – but his books were different from the traditional Soviet fiction. “Official” Soviet novels usually said that to be really intelligent and fit for managing life, a person must study in a city. Rasputin, however, insisted that farmers have some inherent natural wit which sometimes makes them more intelligent than university professors.”

“My theme is village life,” the writer says. “Writing about village life, you can’t be insincere.”

Rasputin’s characters, like himself, seem to be children of the Siberian nature – strong-willed, sometimes rebellious, and sometimes mild. The writer claims that he feels some mystic connection with the nature of his birthplace.

“The River Angara is sort of my second mother,” he says. “It nursed me, told me fairy tales, taught to sympathize people. It taught me to speak the Siberian language, pure as crystal.”

The language of Rasputin’s books is really a treasure in itself. Siberians have preserved the original Russian language, and preserving it further – as well as preserving the beautiful Siberian nature – is one of Rasputin’s main goals in life. For many years, Mr. Rasputin enthusiastically stands for preserving the pure waters of the Siberian Lake Baykal. For Rasputin, ecology of nature cannot be separated from the ecology of a human’s soul – though some people say that high morals are not in fashion any more.

In his young age, Rasputin worked as a journalist for some time. Now he doesn’t like to be in the center of public life, preferring a life of a village anchoret. However, sometimes he still publishes present-day articles in magazines and newspapers. After all, journalism is not the only means to improve the society. Good fiction can improve it as well.

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