Sakura and the Oak

22 hrs. 6 min.

Miscellaneous

Language Russian

Author Vsevolod Ovchinnikov

Narrator Mikhail Roslyakov

Description

Two of the most famous books by Vsevolod Ovchinnikov that received the State Prize: “A Sprig of Cherry Blossom” (a story about what the Japanese are like—supplemented 30 years later) and “Roots of an Oak” (impressions and reflections on England and the English). First published in the magazine “Novy Mir,” they met with great success, including in Japan and England.

Vsevolod Vladimirovich Ovchinnikov is an international journalist and writer who worked for many years in China, Japan, and England. A new direction in Russian journalism is associated with his name—the creation of a psychological portrait of foreign society.

The author’s creative credo: “To convince the reader that one cannot measure a person’s life by one’s own yardstick, that one cannot rely on the familiar system of values and criteria, because they are in no way universal—just like the grammatical norms of our native language.”

“A Sprig of Cherry Blossom” and “Roots of an Oak” were—and remain—truly masterpieces of Russian publicistics. The striking brightness and imagery of the language, the astonishing depth of penetration into the distinctive worlds of English and Japanese national culture draw the reader in and serve as a key to understanding foreign reality.