Rasputin

Japanese: ラスプーチン

Russian novelist. Born in a remote village between Irkutsk and Bratsk in Siberia. He spent half a year in a rural Siberian village, closed off by snow and ice, feeling the presence of the spirits of his house and the forest, which formed the basis of his writing. He studied history and literature at Irkutsk University, and after graduating in 1959, he began writing short stories while working as a reporter for a local newspaper. In 1966, he published two collections of reportage about the construction of a hydroelectric power plant. In 1967, he published his first collection of short stories, A Man of This World, and in the same year, he published a novella, Gold for Mary, which showed his true talent. He went on to publish The Last Days of Grandma Anna (1970) and Farewell to Machora (1976), and in 1977, he was awarded the Soviet State Prize for his novella Live and Remember (1974), which depicts a deserter and his wife in Siberia during World War II. He wrote about subjects such as the death of an old woman and a village submerged by a dam in a rich style that mixed Siberian dialects and slang, and is considered to be one of the representative "rural writers" along with Shukshin and others. He was initially sympathetic to perestroika, but eventually leaned towards conservative nationalism.

Rasputin

A Russian religious leader. He frequented the imperial court in the final days of the imperial era, and gained the trust of Empress Alexandra by claiming to have cured the crown prince of his hemophilia through prayer. During World War I, he influenced national politics, even influencing Czar Nicholas II, but was assassinated by concerned boyars and right-wing politicians. His extremely unruly private life gave rise to various rumors, and he was called the mad monk.

Source : Heibonsha Encyclopedia About MyPedia Information

Japanese:

ロシアの小説家。シベリアのイルクーツクとブラーツクの間の寒村に生まれた。半年は雪と氷に閉ざされるシベリアの農村で，家霊や森の精の存在を感じながら過ごしたことが，その作品の下地となっている。イルクーツク大学で歴史と文学を学び，1959年の卒業後は地方新聞の記者をしながら短編を書きはじめ，1966年水力発電所の建設を取材したルポルタージュ集を２冊刊行。1967年初の短編集《この世の人》を出版し，同年中編小説《マリヤのための金》を発表してその本領を発揮した。さらに《アンナ婆さんの末期》（1970年），《マチョーラとの別れ》（1976年）を出し，第２次大戦中のシベリアの脱走兵とその妻を描いた中編《生きよ，そして記憶せよ》（1974年）によって，1977年にソ連邦国家賞を授与された。老婆の死やダムに水没する村といった題材をシベリア方言や俗諺を交えた豊かな文体で描き，シュクシーンらとともに〈農村派作家〉を代表すると見なされている。ペレストロイカに当初は共鳴していたが，やがて保守的ナショナリズムに傾いた。