In the Boat Scratched on the Wall

Tragic prose forces you to rethink the essence of things

Mikhail Shishkin was born in Moscow in 1961 and lives in Switzerland. He is the author of the novels “Larionov’s Notes,” “The Taking of Izmail,” “The Hair of Venus,” “Epistolary,” and the literary-historical guide “Russian Switzerland.” Winner of the “Big Book,” the “Russian Booker,” and the “National Bestseller” awards.

“In this book, I collected texts written by different me as the moment drew closer. Someone said that culture arose from the feeling of loneliness in the face of death. There is a legend about a prisoner condemned to life in solitary confinement. For years he scratched a boat into the wall using the handle of a prison spoon. And then one day they brought him, as usual, water, bread, and gruel—but the cell turned out to be empty, and the wall clean. He sat in his scratched-up boat and sailed away.

A book is a boat. You just need to bring the words to life so the boat becomes real—so you can climb in and sail to those who love you and are waiting for you. Culture arose not from loneliness, but from human warmth.” (Mikhail Shishkin)