Fish: A History of One Migration
This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera (“Faith” in Russian) from the steppes of Central Asia to a remote, forest-bound community of Estonians, to the chaos of Moscow.
Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration. Vera gains the nickname “fish” from her abusive husband, who feels she is cold and unfeeling. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Vera in fact discovers she has a powerful gift to alleviate the suffering of others, while she can do little to fend off the adversity that buffets her own life.
Aleshkovsky’s work is remarkable for his commitment to the realistic novel tradition, creating an expansive, gripping, often controversial story about the intimate fallout of imperial collapse. Indeed, Fish is the first Russian novel to grapple with post-Soviet colonial “otherness” without transposing it into a fantastic, post-apocalyptic realm or reducing it to black-and-white conflicts of the popular detective genres.
Stylistically, Aleshkovsky’s prose most closely resembles the work of Vassily Aksyonov or Lyudmila Petrushevskaya, with its mastery of evocative detail and mystical undercurrents. The male author’s choice of a first-person, female narrator (extremely rare in Russia) makes Fish all the more significant.
Author Peter Aleshkovsky was born in 1957 and graduated some two decades later from Moscow State University. He worked for several years as an archaeologist in Central Asia and as a historical preservationist in the Russian North before turning full-time to literature in the mid-1990s.
He attained literary success with his collection of stories Stargorod, followed by his novels Seagull, Skunk: A Life (translated into English by Glas), Vladimir Chigrintsev and, most recently, The Institute of Dreams.
Aleshkovsky's style is decidedly in the realistic tradition, but that does not stop him from investigating the mystical and miraculous in everyday life. His works are richly descriptive and evocative of the uniquely Russian worldview, while at the same time tapping into universal human emotions and experiences. He has three times been short-listed for the Russian Booker Prize, most recently for his novel Fish.
Fish was translated by Nina Shevchuk-Murray. Born and raised in the western Ukrainian city of L'viv, Shevchuk-Murray holds degrees in English linguistics and Creative Writing. She translates both poetry and prose from the Russian and Ukrainian languages. Her translations and original poetry have been published in a number of literary magazines, including Chtenia. With Ladette Randolph, she co-edited the anthology of Nebraska non-fiction, The Big Empty (University of Nebraska Press, 2007).
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