“45th parallel” is a documentary novel by the writer Polina Zherebtsova about the city of Stavropol [1] . Having left Chechnya with her mother in 2004, the writer continued to keep diary entries in the Stavropol Territory . The 2005-2006 diaries formed the basis of the novel [2] .
| 45th parallel | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Author | Polina Viktorovna Zherebtsova |
| Genre | documentary novel |
| Original language | Russian |
| Original published | 2017 |
| Publisher | "Folio" |
| Pages | 506 |
| Carrier | book (hardcover) |
| ISBN | 978-966-03-7925-1 |
In 2017, the novel entered the short list of the award to them. Andrei Sakharov “for journalism as an act” [3] .
Content
Story
The Zherebtsov family moves from a military zone to a peaceful life, they are refugees [4] . At every step they have to face difficulties: there is no housing, no financial assistance, it is difficult to get a job, there is no passport [5] [6] . In the city of Stavropol, Polina Zherebtsova meets different people, writes down their stories about life in a personal diary, including the stories of LGBT people , the military, the poor, etc. [7]
The novel document “45th parallel” is divided into five parts, each of which is devoted to certain events [8] . The Chechen writer’s diary was published under the title “ Ant in a Glass Jar ” and is the previous book in the “Caucasian Cycle” [9] .
Genre Features and Issues
Literary critics praise the prose of Polina Zherebtsova [10] . The genre in which the writer works is documentary: books are based on her diary entries. Critics note the artistic power in her works and the identification of acute social problems [11] .
In the magazine "Banner" it is said about the novel that the fate of the people in it is casts of our time [12] . The critic Olga Bugoslavskaya insists that the novel’s main emphasis is the role of prejudice in society and equates the work of Polina Zherebtsova with the dialogue with Chania Yanagihara ’s novel “ Little Life ” and with the series “ Sex and the City ” [13] .
The books of Polina Zherebtsova have been translated into French, German, Czech, Finnish, Estonian, Portuguese, Bulgarian, Polish, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Slovenian and other languages of the world [14] .
Editions of the novel
For the first time, the novel "45th parallel" was published in the Kharkov publishing house "Folio" in 2017.
Fragments of the novel were published in the magazines “The Bear ” [15] and Snob [16] .
Criticism Reviews
The author of the book, Polina Zherebtsova, a girl who survived two Chechen wars and, at the age of twenty, miraculously escaped from Grozny to Stavropol (and now has successfully received Finnish citizenship), becomes Vergil for the reader, having him through all the circles of hell. In this documentary novel not a word is composed. On the contrary, Pauline admits, it was necessary to reduce a number of episodes so that the book did not seem a grim Bosch fiction.
- Sergey Besedin [17]
The 45th parallel is a much more diverse text, complex and wise, in order to cover only one very sensitive issue for the contemporary Russian context. This novel is not just about the consequences of a meaningless Chechen war , not just about same-sex love (or rather, love as such), not just about human stupidity and cruelty, banal and meaningless. Despite all the described horrors, the injustice from which one gasps for breath, the heart and other vital organs are convulsively contracting - despite all this, Polina’s book is a kind of antidote, antidote; painful but effective vaccination.
- Sergey Kumysh [18]
Prizes and nominations for the novel
- 2017 - short list of the award to them. Andrei Sakharov "for journalism as an act . " [3]
- 2018 - NOS Award Long List [19]
- 2018 - Long List of Yasnaya Polyana Prize [20]
Notes
- ↑ Fragment from the book "New Newspaper"
- ↑ About the life of Chechens on the dividing strip
- ↑ 1 2 The most famous novel, Tamizdata.
- ↑ POLINA ZHEREBTSOVA. 45th PARALLEL
- ↑ System of humiliation
- ↑ “We Do Not Give Alms!”, Novaya Gazeta
- ↑ ItBOOK Prose
- ↑ “Documentary novel is the highest and most difficult form of literature”
- ↑ "The novel of overcoming": the author of Chechen diaries Polina Zherebtsova released a new book
- ↑ The diary as a way to survive
- ↑ a book-mirror, where everyone who calls himself a Russian must look
- ↑ Banner: "Though a wolf howl, at least rush from the balcony"
- ↑ Olga Bugoslavskaya, Peace - continuation of the war .
- ↑ 6 questions to writer
- ↑ 45th parallel. Excerpt from the new novel
- ↑ Interesting from current literature
- ↑ Echo of Russia
- ↑ the best book novelties of September 2017
- ↑ NOS 2018 long list
- ↑ long list of Yasnaya Polyana Award
Links
- The author of notes on the war in Chechnya publishes a book on Stavropol
- On the lessons of the Soviet Caucasus, "NEW NEWSPAPER"
- The novel "45th parallel"
- Chechen registration
- Banner Magazine. Review of the novel
- Volga magazine. Review of the novel
- "Such matters" publish a chapter from a new book by Polina Zherebtsova