The Archipelago of Another Life (French: L'Archipel d'une autre vie) is a 2016 novel by the French-Russian writer Andreï Makine.[1][2]
 | |
| Author | Andreï Makine |
|---|---|
| Original title | L'Archipel d'une autre vie |
| Translator | Geoffrey Strachan |
| Language | French |
| Publisher | Éditions du Seuil |
Publication date | 18 August 2016 |
| Publication place | France |
Published in English | 11 July 2019 |
| Pages | 228 |
| ISBN | 9782021329179 |
Plot
editThe novel is about a prisoner who escaped from a Gulag in Siberia at the end of the Stalin era. The story is told by one of the members of the search party years later. His listener is a young man who encounters him at Tugur.[3]
Reception
editJulian Evans of The Daily Telegraph wrote that the novel is reminiscent of the works of Joseph Conrad and a step away from Makine's usual minimalist and emotional style. He wrote that the last quarter of the novel is moving but that the language in the English translation occasionally is stiff and creates "emotional ponderousness".[3]
The English translation was shortlisted for the Scott Moncrieff Prize.[4]
References
edit- ^ McLoughlin, Kate (10 January 2020). "Taiga, taiga, glittering bright". The Times Literary Supplement. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
- ^ Lichtig, Toby (23 September 2021). "'The Archipelago of Another Life' Review: Into the Siberian Wild". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
- ^ a b Evans, Julian (3 September 2019). "The Archipelago of Another Life by Andrei Makine, review: a Siberian Heart of Darkness". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
- ^ Anderson, Porter (1 December 2020). "The UK's Society of Authors' £13,000 Translation Prize Shortlists for 2020". Publishing Perspectives. Retrieved 20 November 2023.