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A review by dorinlazar
The Life Written by Himself by Avvakum Petrov
4.0
First of all, many thanks to NetGalley and Columbia University Press for allowing me to read this in advance in exchange for an honest review.
There are three distinct sides to this book I want to cover in this review - one concerns the academic work that explains the period in history, the second one the quality of the translation, and the third is, of course, the text itself.
First of all, this book starts with a very long and thorough explanation on the context and the facts that the author will talk about in the main body of work. It might feel like a needless thing to do, it might feel redundant, but it is not; in fact, the context set by the introduction is by far the most important part of the book, that allows the reader to really understand the contents of this autobiography. The notes are quite important as well, and if it's one thing that I would change about this book is having the notes in-page rather than separate at the end. It might work at the end for a proper Kindle Edition, but for a printed book it probably would hurt more if the reader has to continually switch from reading the text to reading the notes. There are over 300 notes, and most of them are very useful in understanding the text.
I can't be a proper judge of the quality of the translation, although the preface assures us that it's an improvement over the existing translations. My first complaint was about the use of archaic language - however, it helped to have a reminder that the archaic language is not used inconsistently, but it's actually Avvakum doing the quoting - and that confused me a bit - enough to actually forget about what the introduction prepared me for. A second complaint relates to the title of Archpriest, which does not exist in Christian Orthodoxy; instead, his proper rank is „Protopope”.
And now, the text itself. I'm not sure if the author was using self-irony; but the book, at least in the beginning, is quite funny; slapstick-comedy level of funny. The best example: someone wants to rob him. He has two pistols. Avvakum prays, and the first pistol doesn't fire - God has listened his prayers! The second pistol doesn't fire - God is listening! The robber beats him and robs him anyway. In a sense, I wish it was self-irony. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case.
If Tolstoy couldn't read Avvakum's Life without weeping, it's probably because Avvakum is a deeply troubled man. The more one advances, the more of his troublesome mind surfaces. After the initial „fun” part, reading The Life becomes oppressive, almost suffocating. We have a growingly troubled mind that leads people to their own demise. Avvakum doesn't seem to be very smart but for certain he is not a very wise man. He is a rebel, absurd in his justifications. While his suffering isn't something to laugh about, there is a feeling that behind his words and justifications there is abuse, oppression, and not-so-subtle brain-washing of the followers. Some things are certainly lies - he talks of miracles, like his condemnation of an expedition, and the saving of the chief's son through prayer alone. People have their tongues cut and they are still able to speak. And there are only two possible ways to handle his self-delusion - either have a laugh, or shudder at the oppressive character. I went for both.
After reading his autobiography, the man is still an enigma. I feel that he leaves out of his story the real reasons why he ended up being immolated. You don't burn people for telling you that you use a different number of fingers when making a cross. But perhaps in 17th century Russia you do burn people for being self-absorbed, insulting people all over the place and generally making people revolt against the authority for no good reason.
An interesting read overall.
There are three distinct sides to this book I want to cover in this review - one concerns the academic work that explains the period in history, the second one the quality of the translation, and the third is, of course, the text itself.
First of all, this book starts with a very long and thorough explanation on the context and the facts that the author will talk about in the main body of work. It might feel like a needless thing to do, it might feel redundant, but it is not; in fact, the context set by the introduction is by far the most important part of the book, that allows the reader to really understand the contents of this autobiography. The notes are quite important as well, and if it's one thing that I would change about this book is having the notes in-page rather than separate at the end. It might work at the end for a proper Kindle Edition, but for a printed book it probably would hurt more if the reader has to continually switch from reading the text to reading the notes. There are over 300 notes, and most of them are very useful in understanding the text.
I can't be a proper judge of the quality of the translation, although the preface assures us that it's an improvement over the existing translations. My first complaint was about the use of archaic language - however, it helped to have a reminder that the archaic language is not used inconsistently, but it's actually Avvakum doing the quoting - and that confused me a bit - enough to actually forget about what the introduction prepared me for. A second complaint relates to the title of Archpriest, which does not exist in Christian Orthodoxy; instead, his proper rank is „Protopope”.
And now, the text itself. I'm not sure if the author was using self-irony; but the book, at least in the beginning, is quite funny; slapstick-comedy level of funny. The best example: someone wants to rob him. He has two pistols. Avvakum prays, and the first pistol doesn't fire - God has listened his prayers! The second pistol doesn't fire - God is listening! The robber beats him and robs him anyway. In a sense, I wish it was self-irony. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case.
If Tolstoy couldn't read Avvakum's Life without weeping, it's probably because Avvakum is a deeply troubled man. The more one advances, the more of his troublesome mind surfaces. After the initial „fun” part, reading The Life becomes oppressive, almost suffocating. We have a growingly troubled mind that leads people to their own demise. Avvakum doesn't seem to be very smart but for certain he is not a very wise man. He is a rebel, absurd in his justifications. While his suffering isn't something to laugh about, there is a feeling that behind his words and justifications there is abuse, oppression, and not-so-subtle brain-washing of the followers. Some things are certainly lies - he talks of miracles, like his condemnation of an expedition, and the saving of the chief's son through prayer alone. People have their tongues cut and they are still able to speak. And there are only two possible ways to handle his self-delusion - either have a laugh, or shudder at the oppressive character. I went for both.
After reading his autobiography, the man is still an enigma. I feel that he leaves out of his story the real reasons why he ended up being immolated. You don't burn people for telling you that you use a different number of fingers when making a cross. But perhaps in 17th century Russia you do burn people for being self-absorbed, insulting people all over the place and generally making people revolt against the authority for no good reason.
An interesting read overall.