Master of the Stone Mountains. Part Two

The first thing you notice in “The Stone Belt” is the narrative coherence, the compositional sturdiness of such a monumental, multi-layered work. Excellent knowledge of historical material and a large store of life observations allow Evgeny Fedorov to write in an interesting and expressive way. Whether he depicts 18th-century Petersburg or distant, alien Brittany, whether he tells of the endlessly heavy labor of a captive miner or of a small reception in the Hermitage for Empress Ekaterina II, he provides a historically truthful and convincingly lifelike picture. The author shows an entire gallery of memorable images of ordinary Russian people. Fearless, rebellious Sen’ka Sokol, the “sharp and nimble” Mit’ka Persten’, one of the leaders of the Bashkir uprising—Sultan; the talented serf violinist Andreyka Vorobishkin; the old master Golubok; the modest father Savva, who understood that truth is on Pugachev’s side— all of them come before our eyes as if alive. Nature is described in the trilogy in a simple but expressive way—the Oryol steppes and harsh, majestic Ural; the snowy mountains of Switzerland and the blooming Lombard Valley. Evgeny Fedorov widely uses folk speech and draws on folk tales and legends that are alive in the Urals even to this day.