ELKOST International literary agency - JUST PUBLISHED: Oleg Dorman's The Note in Latvia

Oleg Dorman's book about Rudolf Barshai The Note released in Latvia by Janis Roze as "Nots. Rūdolfa Baršaja dzīvesstāsts"

Slavenā altista un diriģenta Rūdolfa Baršaja dzīvesstāstu pierakstījis kinorežisors, filmas un grāmatas “Parindenis’’ autors Oļegs Dormans. 1977. gadā Rūdolfs Baršajs – izcils diriģents, altists, elitārā Maskavas kamerorķestra radītājs – emigrē. “Padomju telpā” viņa vārds kļūst tabu. Turpmākajos gados viņš strādā ar daudziem orķestriem, viņa īstenotie ieskaņojumi gūst augstu starptautisku novērtējumu (Grammophone Awards, 1988, Cannes Classical Music Award, 2003, u.c.). 2010. gadā top Oļega Dormana filma par Baršaju, un viņa stāstītais sniedzas tālu pāri filmas ietvariem. Ir jātop grāmatai, kurā Baršajs var izstāstīt visu. Kā tas īsti bija ? draudzēties ar Šostakoviču, būt Rihtera, Rostropoviča, Oistraha saspēles partnerim, spēt Krievijas augsnē iedēstīt baroka mūzikas sēklu un piejaucēt Mālera simfonijas. Ko tas mūziķim nozīmē (un vienkārši – cilvēkam) – pabeigt dižu skaņražu darbus. No krievu valodas tulkojusi Renāte Punka.

Featured titles

Baize-Covered Table with Decanter, a novel by Vladimir Makanin (1993)

Rights sold: China - LITZIAN, France - GALLIMARD, AWorld English - Readers International,

Winner of the 1993 Russian Booker Award

Baize-Covered Table with Decanter describes one man's psychological torture as he faces an impending visit to be interrogated at the Table for a perceived, minor infraction. Makanin describes in some detail each character present at the Table, their purpose, techniques, and psychology. He also descibes in flashbacks the physical torture of suspects in Soviet days past and the mental torture of some as they are forcibly drugged in state mental hospitals. The book contains a few sections with an adult material not appropriate for minors; one scene in particular describes the sexual abuse of a corpse and is really quite disturbing.

Makanin does a good job describing the moral corruption of Russian/Soviet society. Neighbor is turned against neighbor. Bribes and sexual favors are freely exchanged. Fear rules. It seems no one is immune to this societal degradation.

Baize-Covered Table leaves the reader with the impression that, although the Soviet torture methods may have diminished in recent years, psychological torture that breaks a person's spirit, mind, and body may persist... there will always be a Table in Russia.

"...it is all of Solzhenitsyn compressed into 144 pages" -- Kevin Tole, GoodReads

THE REHEARSALS, a novel by Vladimir Sharov

Rights sold: France - Solin-Actes Sud, World English - DEDALUS, Russia - ARSIS BOOKS, AST, Serbia - UTOPIA

In this novel, Sharov’s main character is an up-and-coming medieval historian, who is given old manuscripts by a mysterious figure. In these manuscripts, he uncovers the diaries of a seventeenth century Frenchman, Jacques de Sertan, who is writing a play about the life of Christ. The novel then follows a small Russian community that acts out Sertan’s work. The community is followed from the Old Believer schism of 1666 to the beginning of the Soviet period and the horrors of the Gulag, where the small community, once blooming with life, turns into a labor camp. In Russia the novel was praised for its in-depth look at the repercussions of communism on a rural community.

The novel was also well received by readers and has sold over 30,000 copies in Russia alone.

A stunning reflection on art, history, religion and national identity, The Rehearsals is the seminal work in the unique oeuvre of Vladimir Sharov