Narrative
Farewell to Matyora
Прощание с Матёрой
Valentin Rasputin · 1976
Synopsis
The last spring arrives for Matyora, a village on an island in the Angara, more than three centuries old, which is to be swallowed up by the reservoir of a hydroelectric power station. The young have left; the old remain, first of all Daria, who has tea with her friends Nastasia and Sima, while old Bogodul joins in their conversations. When a crew sent to “clean up” the site attacks the crosses in the cemetery, the inhabitants drive it off. Daria's son, Pavel, and her grandson Andrei, who works at the dam, are already looking towards the new life.
Context
The story appeared in the magazine Nash sovremennik in October and November 1976. It is seen as the classic example of village prose, which describes the effect of industrial progress on a peasant community. Elem Klimov made a film adaptation of it, presented in 1983. The English translation by Antonina W. Bouis is reissued by Northwestern University Press; in French, the book appeared under the title L'Adieu à l'île, in a translation by Irène Tenèze published by Macha Publishing in 2021.
Who it is for
A short narrative, centred on a few old women in a village, which can be read in a few hours.
Prizes and reception
According to the Tass agency, one of the works that established its author at the head of the peasant current in Russian literature.
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