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

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 …

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1819 words

Citation: Gillespie, David. "Proshchanie s Materoi". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 September 2003 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=12768, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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