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When the Whales Leave
Series: Seedbank
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When the Whales Leave
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
"[Yuri Rytkheu's] deep emotional attachment to this landscape of ice (today melting away under global warming forces) makes every sentence seem a poetic revelation." -ANNIE PROULX
Galley quantities available for fiction media, translation media, select booksellers, and sales force by request Advertising and promotional collaboration with ALTA (American Literary Translators Association) Newsletter promotion via the publisher to fiction and translation lists of more than 20,000 contacts Excerpt placement in Lit Hub to celebration National Translation Month (September) Promotional push in conjunction with publisher's Seedbank series of world literature
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Description
Nau cannot remember a time when she was not one with the world around her: with the fast breeze, the green grass, the high clouds, and the endless blue sky above the Shingled Spit. But her greatest joy is to visit the sea, where whales gather every morning to gaily spout rainbows.
Then, one day, she finds a man in the mist where a whale should be: Reu, who has taken human form out of his Great Love for her. Together these first humans become parents to two whales, and then to mankind. Even after Reu dies, Nau continues on, sharing her story of brotherhood between the two species. But as these origins grow more distant, the old woman's tales are subsumed into mythβand her descendants turn increasingly bent on parading their dominance over the natural world.
[Yuri Rytkheuβs] deep emotional attachment to this landscape of ice (today melting away under global warming forces) makes every sentence seem a poetic revelation. - Annie Proulx
Arguably the foremost writer to emerge from the minority peoples of Russiaβs far north. - New York Review of Books
Series: Seedbank
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When the Whales Leave
Nau cannot remember a time when she was not one with the world around her: with the fast breeze, the green grass, the high clouds, and the endless blue sky above the Shingled Spit. But her greatest joy is to visit the sea, where whales gather every morning to gaily spout rainbows. Then, one day, she finds a man in...Paperback$2999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Thinking Root
Acclaimed poet and translator Dan Beachy-Quick offers this newest addition to the Seedbank series: a warm, vivid rendering of the earliest Greek intellects, inviting us to reconsider writing and thinking as a way of living meaningfully in the world. "We have lost our sense of thinking as the experience that keeps us in the world," writes Beachy-Quick, and the figures...Paperback$3799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Dreaming the Mountain
The North American debut of Tu Sβpoet, monk, scholar, dissident, and one of the great cultural figures of modern Vietnamβand a new bilingual edition to the Seedbank series. In addition to being a preeminent scholar of world philosophy and a Zen master, Tu S is one of Vietnam's most celebrated poets. He is a survivor of sixteen years of imprisonment...Paperback$4900Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
Yuri Rytkheu's When the Whales Leave is lauded as a profound exploration of humanity's connection to nature. Critics highlight its powerful fable-like quality and its ability to immerse readers in the majestic Arctic landscape. The book is praised for its poetic language and deep emotional attachment to the natural world, conveying a strong message about environmental stewardship and the interconnection between humans and nature. Through its mythological narrative, it invites readers to rediscover spirituality and love in the world, wrapped in a blend of the mythical and everyday realities.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781571311313
Publisher: Milkweed Editions
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 23 April 2020
Country: United States
Imprint: Milkweed Editions
Illustration: Illustrations
Contributors:
- Translated by Ilona Yazhbin Chavasse
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 139.0mm
Height: 215.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 144
About the Author
Yuri Rytkheu (19302008) was born in Uelen, a village in the Chukotka region of Siberia. He sailed the Bering Sea, worked on Arctic geological expeditions, and hunted in Arctic waters, in addition to writing over a dozen novels and collections of stories. The English translation of his book A Dream in Polar Fog was a Kiriyama Pacific Rim Prize Notable Book in 2006. In the late 1950s, Rytkheu emerged not only as a great literary talent, but as the unique voice of a small national minority-the Chukchi people, a shrinking community residing in one of the most majestic and inhospitable environments on earth.
Ilona Yazhbin Chavasse was born in Belarus and, together with her family, emigrated to the United States in 1989. She has translated the work of Dimitry Bortnikov, Sergey Gandlevsky, and Ilya Brazhnikov. Educated at Vassar College, Oxford University, and University College London, she now lives in London.
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