Shukshin: Snowball Berry Red

This is a title in the Bristol Classical Press Russian Texts series, in Russian with English notes, vocabulary and introduction. Vasilii Shukshin is a writer in the tradition of “village prose”, a literary movement which has emerged from 20th-century Russian literature. In “Snowball Berry Red” (1973) he considers the plight of the rootless individual who is unable to return to his rural background and settle down in a changing community. Although village prose writing contains colourful, local dialogue which is often difficult for all but the most fluent readers of Russian, Shukshin manages to convey everyday speech while remaining near to standard Russian usage.