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2020 Longlist

Hanuman’s Travels

Translated from the Russian

ABOUT
THE BOOK

Hanuman’s Travels, is the picaresque tale of two asylum seekers, one a Russian Estonian man (the narrator) and the other an Indian (the protagonist), and about their daily lives in a Danish refugee camp and on the road in the late 1990s. While they are waiting to go to the Danish island of Lolland, which is said to be a paradise, the two companions in misfortune survive in any way they can. Among scams, big and small disgraces, humiliations and lies, a map is gradually drawn – a detailed map of itineraries where the hopes and the fears of thousands of marginal people flounder and intertwine. Andrei Ivanov was inspired to write this novel by his own vicissitudes as a stateless person living in Denmark.

 

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Andrei
Ivanov

Andrei Ivanov, born in Estonia in 1971, knows, in his own words, “all the ups and downs of a Soviet education”, as he grew up in “a typical proletarian Russian family”. Although he sees himself as part of the Russian literary tradition, he identifies Estonia as his home country and his creative point of departure. After graduating from the Tallinn Pedagogical University (now Tallinn University), where he wrote his thesis on the language of Vladimir Nabokov, Ivanov briefly worked as a teacher, moved to Scandinavia and explored Denmark for a number of years, studied several languages, and wrote his first novel. His Russian-language novels Hanuman’s Journey to Lolland (2009), Bizarre (2013), and Confession of a Lunatic (2015) recount his experiences in Scandinavia.

Andrei Ivanov, born in Estonia in 1971, knows, in his own words, “all the ups and downs of a Soviet education”, as he grew up in “a typical proletarian Russian family”. Although he sees himself as part of the Russian literary tradition, he identifies Estonia as his home country and his creative point of departure. After graduating from the Tallinn Pedagogical University (now Tallinn University), where he wrote his thesis on the language of Vladimir Nabokov, Ivanov briefly worked as a teacher, moved to Scandinavia and explored Denmark for a number of years, studied several languages, and wrote his first novel. His Russian-language novels Hanuman’s Journey to Lolland (2009), Bizarre (2013), and Confession of a Lunatic (2015) recount his experiences in Scandinavia.

NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS

A shocking but believable insight into the life of illegal refugees inside and outside the camps in Denmark. The authentic naturalistic description shows the refugees situation as dangerous, depressing and hopeless. The conflict between dreams and reality makes the quest a real challenge. Tartu Public Library, Estonia

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Date published
01/01/2018
Country
Estonia
Original Language
Estonian
Author
Publisher
Vagabond Voices
Translator
Matthew Hyde
Translation
Translated from the Russian

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