A History of the Island
ABOUT
THE BOOK
Internationally acclaimed novelist and scholar of medieval literature, Eugene Vodolazkin returns with a satirical parable about European and Russian history, the myth of progress, and the futility of war.
In the tradition of Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose, Julian Barnes’s A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters, and Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant, Vodolazkin is at his best recasting history, in all its hubris and horror, by finding the humor in its absurdity. For readers with an appetite for more than a dry, rational, scientific view of what motivates, divides, and unites people, A History of the Island conjures a world still suffused with mystical powers.
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Lisa
C. Hayden
Lisa C. Hayden’s translations from the Russian include Eugene Vodolazkin’s Solovyov and Larionov, The Aviator, and Laurus, which won the Read Russia Award in 2016 and was also shortlisted for the Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize along with her translation of Vadim Levental’s Masha Regina. Her blog, Lizok’s Bookshelf, examines contemporary Russian fiction. She lives in Maine.
Lisa C. Hayden’s translations from the Russian include Eugene Vodolazkin’s Solovyov and Larionov, The Aviator, and Laurus, which won the Read Russia Award in 2016 and was also shortlisted for the Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize along with her translation of Vadim Levental’s Masha Regina. Her blog, Lizok’s Bookshelf, examines contemporary Russian fiction. She lives in Maine.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
Eugene Vodolazkin – the Russian/Ukrainian author. He is engaged in medieval studies and philology, what traced in his masterpieces. Novelist has a number of prizes and awards in literature and the titles of honorary professor in European universities. Vodolazkin’s new book “A History of the Island” immediately became bestseller and won the hearts of readers with its piercing, honesty and tragedy combined with satire.