Bare Flame

The novel by Dmitry Novikov "Bare Flame" is a confession, a parable, and an expression of love for the Russian North, Karelia, and Pomorye. The narrative lacks a sequential chronology, yet it breathes Time itself, its inseparable layers flowing into one another, like the waters of the White Sea — silvery-bright, warmed by the unsetting sun, and scaldingly cold, dark, with which it is frightening to come into contact. Here, the sixteenth century, the twentieth, and our time intertwine. Here, there are several narrators, who are also characters: Saint Varlaam of Keret, compiler of the "Dictionary of the Living Pomor Language" Ivan Durov, pediatrician Gregory, and his Pomor grandfather Fyodor. Fishermen, seamen, peasants, adults, elders and children, men and women, righteous and sinners. Journeys, memories, unexpected meetings, miraculous coincidences connect them, like streams — separate rivers. And with thousands of other fates, they will merge into a great sea, in which, like a bare flame, the heavenly light of Russia will be reflected. Russian writer Dmitry Novikov was born in Petrozavodsk, served in the Northern Fleet, and writes about his native land with such love that his prose grows into poetry, generously revealing to the reader the half-forgotten treasures of the Russian language. The series "Literary Compass of Russia" has united the works of masters of Russian prose who captured the distinctive characters and everyday life of various regions of our vast country. Continuing the best traditions of the classics, these books introduce us to the cultural-historical and natural landscapes of Russia and help us contemplate the place of man in a changing world.