What a treat for you: a second episode of IN THE RAW this week. I’m talking with translator supremo 1147 about his new translation for Antelope Hill, Bare Fields: The Russians in Gallipoli, 1920-21. This is a fascinating memoir of a desperate time in Russian history, with many parallels to our own time. But the memoir also offers great hope and is a testament to the power of faith, perseverance and overcoming.
Here’s the book’s description:
Nearing the end of the Russian Civil War, a large portion of the White Army, along with some of their families and other emigres, evacuated to Greek-occupied Gallipoli, taking with them the very soul of Russia, desperately hoping to see her in a new dawn. Among them was author Ivan Lukash, who penned the following collection of musings and observations during this time in Gallipoli from 1920 to 1921. Bare Fields paints a vivid image of their camps, from the bustle of the mornings to the late-night outings of both soldiers and locals, sprinkled with an abundance of anecdotes from such famed men as Pyotr Wrangel, Anton Turkul, Vladimir Manstein, and Alexander Kutepov.
An overarching theme to the book can be illustrated with the following question: What will a Russian man do when he is deprived of everything—his homeland, his wealth, his family, when nothing remains but the dry, gray landscape of a once beautiful city, now turned into Russia’s foreign cemetery of ashes? As hope persists among some while others fall to despair, Lukash beautifully captures the varied answers to this unasked question in a way that is deeply insightful and surprisingly timeless.
The book is available now from Antelope Hill Publishing. If you use promo code “ren5”, you can get 5% off all purchases on the Antelope Hill store.
IN THE RAW 32: 1147