Light from the East

A Russian linguist—an orientalist and Arabist—author of the first poetic translation of the Qur’an into Russian, Theodore Adamovich Shumovsky lived a long life—almost a hundred years. He was fortunate to study under the classics of Russian Arabistics and Islamic studies: N. V. Yushmanov and I. Yu. Krachkovsky. He knew twenty-two languages, and, according to Theodore Adamovich himself, learning them was helped by—hardship and the years of exile, which lasted a long eighteen years.

He became the author of several books in which he presented an alternative view of the development of Arabistics in the Soviet Union. He prepared and published a critical edition of “The Arabic Marine Encyclopedia,” as well as popular science books “In the Footsteps of Sindbad the Mariner. Oceanic Arabia” and “The Last ‘Lion of the Arab Seas’.” He formulated his views on the linguistic process in “Oroxology,” and wrote an autobiographical book “Light from the East”—the audio version of which we are happy to present.

This book is about the dramatic history of Russia and Russian scholarship, told from the first person’s point of view. It is a memoir that “covers the period from pre-revolutionary times to the post-Soviet era.” It is about the fate of the intelligentsia, and a significant part of it echoes works of Russian literature that speak about the power and tragedy of Russian character—about choice, about the struggle between good and evil, about the contrast of our life. It’s a book about a person—about human dignity, about the difference between a dream and life. As the author writes in the Prologue: “If I were offered to live this life again—exactly the way it turned out, and not how I dreamed, I would say yes.” And he answers this: “Now, from the distance of lived experience, I will reply that yes. Because only by taking steps into the unknown can we understand and realize ourselves.”

Also, don’t miss the previously released audiobooks in the translation of Theodore Adamovich Shumovsky: “The Holy Qur’an” and “Rose Petals.”