Mire. A Far Eastern Novel

The heroine of the new novel Mire (in Korean "future") worships any magical forces: the spirits of ancestors and the land, Jesus in his Catholic and Orthodox forms, the Virgin Mary, the Antichrist Lenin, the collective Politburo, and the genius leader Comrade Stalin. She cannot understand why one must choose one and renounce all other heavenly patrons. Mire is ready to follow her revolutionary husband, the chairman of the Korean section of the Union of the Godless, and renounce everything that is declared illegal, as long as she does not take off the family amulet and two crosses: Catholic and Orthodox…

This is the second artistic exploration of Fate as a phenomenon, which is composed of intertwined destinies of the people, family, and individual, after the novel "Ulan Dalai." The fragility and strength of this intertwining is shown through a female perspective: the main heroine is not just an observer, but a living nerve of the narrative. I believe that Koreans, like Kalmyks, found themselves in the writer's focus not by chance. The ability to endure, preserve their traditions and spirit in epochal catastrophes and dramas unites these two peoples.

Natalia Ilishkina is the author of the "steppe saga" about the Don Kalmyks "Ulan Dalai." Finalist of the "Yasnaya Polyana" and "Big Book" awards.