The Archipelago of Another Life explained

The Archipelago of Another Life
Author:Andreï Makine
Title Orig:L'Archipel d'une autre vie
Orig Lang Code:fr
Translator:Geoffrey Strachan
Country:France
Language:French
Publisher:Éditions du Seuil
Pub Date:18 August 2016
English Pub Date:11 July 2019
Pages:228
Isbn:9782021329179

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]

Plot

The 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.

Reception

Julian 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]

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: McLoughlin . Kate . 10 January 2020 . Taiga, taiga, glittering bright . subscription . . 20 November 2023 .
  2. News: Lichtig . Toby . 23 September 2021 . ‘The Archipelago of Another Life’ Review: Into the Siberian Wild . subscription . . 20 November 2023 .
  3. News: Evans . Julian . Julian Evans (writer) . 3 September 2019 . The Archipelago of Another Life by Andrei Makine, review: a Siberian Heart of Darkness . . 20 November 2023 .
  4. News: Anderson . Porter . 1 December 2020 . The UK’s Society of Authors’ £13,000 Translation Prize Shortlists for 2020 . . 20 November 2023 .