A new novel from the author of the bestseller 'Lavr,' winner of the 'Big Book' and 'Yasnaya Polyana' prizes, and a finalist for the 'Russian Booker.'

Abstract

Evgeny Vodolazkin is a novelist and philologist. He is the author of the bestseller 'Lavr' and the elegant historical fiction 'Solovyov and Larionov.' In Russia, he is called 'the Russian Umberto Eco,' and in America—after the English publication of 'Lavr'—'the Russian Marquez.' For him, being himself is enough. Vodolazkin's works have been translated into many foreign languages.

The hero of the new novel 'The Aviator' is a man in a state of tabula rasa: waking up one day in a hospital bed, he realizes that he knows absolutely nothing about himself—not his name, not who he is, not where he is. Hoping to reconstruct the story of his life, he begins to write down the fragmentary and chaotic memories that visit him: St. Petersburg at the beginning of the 20th century, his childhood at the dacha in Siverskaya and Alushta, high school and first love, the revolution of 1917, his love for aviation, Solovki... But how does he remember the details of everyday life, phrases, smells, sounds of that time so precisely, if the calendar says 1999?..

On the front cover is a drawing by Mikhail Shemyakin, created especially for this book.

Author: Evgeny Vodolazkin