Siberia on fire : stories and essays /

The "village school" point of view regarding Soviet environmental issues is well represented in this collection of Valentin Rasputin's stories and essays. The selections, drawn from the period 1966-87, also demonstrate how little the ideas of this prominent spokesman for the movement have changed, notwithstanding intervening political modifications. He continues to expound opposition to industrial development in Siberia, especially his native Lake Baikal region. His arguments have more of an ideological than scientific flavor and they partially overlap with those of Russian nationalists with whom he has long been associated. Thus, he favors traditional family and social structures, strong bonds between people and soil, and reverence for established cultural mores while advocating the suitability of pristine Siberian settings for such a life-style. The longest item, the 1985 novella "Fire," recounts how intrusion of a modern timber-cutting settlement destroys community feeling as well as forest reserves and causes moral decline. Similar sentiments are echoed in the rest of the book. Though Rasputin displays a certain stridency of tone when denouncing large-scale Moscow planned depletion of Siberian resources, his romantic vision of that land as a sacred, mysterious morality-inspiring creation of nature dominates. A slow narrative pace, intermingling long pastoral descriptions with philosophical digressions and expression of personal feelings, leaves little room for action. All in all, this is vintage Rasputin. Suitable for graduate and undergraduate libraries and Russian studies collections. M. K. Frank Randolph-Macon Woman's College

A major contemporary Soviet writer charts the terrain of his native Siberia. Rasputin's dazzling stories are sophisticated splicings of nonchronological episodes. Of special interest is ``The Fire,'' which analyzes the various types of chaos caused by political and social upheaval, and natural disasters, as well as their cost to the individual: ``A sensitive person . . . views himself not as a doctor would, seeing primarily organs fulfilling specific functions, but as the powerful, weak-willed sovereign of an immense, incomprehensible kingdom.'' The nonfiction here, however, is almost redundant, returning the aesthetic transformations of the stories to their factual roots. Rasputin's essays advocating preservation of Siberia's natural resources reveal his convictions but lack documentation and proposals for change; discussions of Soviet writers Vasily Shukshin and Aleksandr Vampilov will not engage the lay reader. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved