Evgeny Vodolazkin is the author of the novel "Soloviev and Larionov" (a finalist for the "Big Book" and the Andrei Bely Prize), a collection of essays "The Instrument of Language" and other books.
A philologist and specialist in Old Russian literature, he does not like historical novels, "their obsessive ethnographism - kokoshniks, povoiniks, ports, zipuns" and other dull stylization. Using the intonations of Old Russian texts, Vodolazkin bizarrely mixes different eras and linguistic elements, giving the reader not a herbarium, but a living bouquet.
The hero of the new novel "Laurus" is a medieval doctor. Possessing the gift of healing, he nevertheless cannot save his beloved and decides to go through the earthly path in her place. Thus life turns into hagiography. He nurses the plague-stricken and the wounded, the poor and the weak, and the more he sacrifices himself, the more obviously his gift grows stronger. But is it possible to save a person's soul through love and sacrifice, having failed to protect its earthly shell?
There are things that are easier to talk about in the Old Russian context. For example, about God. It seems to me that the connections with Him used to be more direct. The important thing is that they simply existed. Now the question of these connections occupies few people, which is puzzling. Have we really learned something radically new since the Middle Ages that allows us to relax?
Evgeniy Vodolazkin
Author: Evgeniy Vodolazkin
Year of release: 2021
Publisher: Elena Shubina Publishing House
Pages: 448
Cover type: Hardcover
Dimensions: 208x135x25 mm
ISBN: 978-5-17-078790-6