Everything is a copy of something that came before it everything is a reflection of the stories surrounding it. However, even in Rome, originals are hard to come by. In letters to his son, he retraces the dissolution of his marriage to the boy’s mother, which takes them to Rome, where the interpreter searches for the origin of their love and for the elusive origin of the West’s cultural heritage. Transcripts of these hearings make their way into the text, alternating with other stories, including the interpreter’s own. The novel’s protagonist works as an interpreter in the Swiss migration service, where he translates hearings for political asylum seekers. A detail from the protagonist’s life might appear alongside a line from a book he’s reading, suggesting that each has equal claim to the representation of some kind of reality. Maidenhair does not explicitly differentiate descriptions of the “real” world from secondhand stories. The novel is built from a web of textual sources assembled so seamlessly that the subtlety of connections can, at times, flummox even the conscientious reader. Language reader than the author allows his native readership. Schwartz’s translation faithfully conveys the structure and intricacies of Shishkin’s novel, providing no more hints or signposts for the English.

And now, Marian Schwartz’s translation of his novel Venerin volos (2006) finally brings the full complexity of Shishkin’s work to the English-speaking world. He’s a challenge for any translator and a pleasure for the Russian reader. His work is allusive, dense, and strikingly beautiful. Mikhail Shishkin has been publishing in Russia to acclaim and accolades for almost twenty years.

Maidenhair by Mikhail Shishkin