Valentin Rasputin, Proshchanie s Materoi [Farewell to Matera / Matyora]

David Gillespie (University of Bath)

Ed. by Neil Cornwell, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 2.2.2.00: Post-1917 Writing and Culture in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, 1917-present.
Vol. editors: Neil Cornwell (University of Bristol), Roman Koropeckyj (University of California, Los Angeles), Andrei Rogatchevski (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1976

Places

Russia (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novella

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

Farewell to Matera

(

Proshchanie s Materoi

) was published towards the end of 1976 in

Nash sovremennik,

a monthly periodical known since the 1970s for its support of Russian nationalist causes in their various guises, including the more extremist manifestations. The novella provoked heated debate in literary circles, and the respected critical journal

Voprosy literatury

devoted 80 pages to it in its February 1977 issue. Rasputin's earlier works had met with almost universal approval and praise, but here the critics were divided. Some applauded its elegiac lyricism, charting the last months and weeks in the life of a Siberian village, and the disappearance of an age-old way of life as it gives way to technological progress. Others were less impressed with the implied criticism of official…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

1819 words

Citation: Gillespie, David. "Proshchanie s Materoi". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 September 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=12768, accessed 23 November 2024.]

Valentin Rasputin, Proshchanie s Materoi [Farewell to Matera / Matyora]

Dates

Places

Genres and Modes

Resources

Save this article

Leave Feedback