Vladimir Makanin
Genres
Contemporary Fiction
Biography
Makanin’s route to his current position as one of the acknowledged masters of contemporary Russian prose is not only a representative tale of the history of Russian literature in the twentieth century, but also a testament to the depth of his talent. Born in 1937 in Orsk, a town straddling the boundary between Europe and Asia, the young Makanin was a chess fanatic. This passion led him to study maths in Moscow, where for many years he worked as a teacher and where he still lives.
Makanin made his entrance onto the cultural scene during the fertile years of Khrushchev’s Thaw, publishing works drawing on his interest in the language of cinema. After the Thaw came to a frosty end, official suppression forced Makanin’s work out of the cultural mainstream, until perestroika ignited new interest in Makanin’s psychological realism and acute analysis of the role of the individual in society. Since then his standing in Russian literature has only risen: this once marginalised author is now on the school curriculum.
Important landmarks on this ascent are his 1993 novel Baize-covered Table with Decanter, which won the Russian Booker; the Pushkin Prize, awarded in 1998, and the State Prize of the Russian Federation, granted in 1999, recognising his outstanding contribution to Russian letters; and his 2008 novel Asan, which won the Big Book Prize. Asan is Makanin’s virtuosic stream-of-consciousness take on the war in Chechnya, seen through the eyes of Zhilin, a morally implacable Russian quarter-master in Grozny. Makanin has been widely translated into English, French, Spanish and other European languages.
Prizes and awards
| 2008 | The Big Book Prize (Asan / Асан) |
| 2000 | The Banners Prize (A Successful Story about Love / Удавшийся рассказ о любви) |
| 1999 | The Russian State Prize (Underground or a Hero of Our Time / Андерграунд или Герой нашего времени) |
| 1999 | The Penne Prize, Italy (Underground or a Hero of Our Time / Андерграунд или Герой нашего времени) |
| 1998 | The Pushkin Prize for Contribution to Literature |
| 1995 | The Novy Mir Prize (Prisoner from the Caucasus / Кавказский пленный) |
| 1993 | The Russian Booker Prize (Baize Covered Table with Decanter / Стол покрытый сукном и с графином посередине) |
Books
- Asan / Асан, 2008
- Underground or a Hero of Our Time / Андерграунд или Герой нашего времени, 1999
- Prisoner from the Caucasus / Кавказский пленный, 1998
- Baize Covered Table with Decanter / Стол покрытый сукном и с графином посередине, 1993
- Escape Hatch / Лаз, 1992
- The Long Road Ahead / Долог наш путь, 1992
- The Loss / Утрата, 1987
- Two Solitudes / Один и одна, 1987
- Left Behind / Отставший, 1987
- Where the Sky Met the Hills / Где сходилось небо с холмами, 1984
- Blue and Red / Голубое и красное, 1982
- Voices / Голоса, 1982
- Ancestor / Предтеча, 1982
- Retainer / Человек свиты, 1982
- Anti-leader / Антилидер, 1980
- Klyucharev and Alimushkin / Ключарев и Алимушкин, 1979
- River with a Fast Current / Река с быстрым течением, 1979
- The Portrait and Its Surroundings / Портрет и вокруг, 1978
- The Straight Line / Прямая линия, 1965
Foreign Publications
In English
- Escape Hatch, 2009
- The Loss: A Novella and Two Short Stories, 1998
- Baize-Covered Table With Decanter, 1995
In German
Sample translations
Underground or a Hero of our Time (Андеграунд или Герой нашего времени)