Laurus describes the life of a fictional fifteenth-century ascetic Russian folk healer, pilgrim, and monk. Arseny, the protagonist, after his parents die of the plague, is raised by his grandfather, a skilled healer who teaches his grandson both healing and reading and writing. Once his grandfather dies, Arseny lives alone until he meets Ustina who becomes the love of his life. She becomes pregnant, but in a young man’s arrogance, he thinks he can deliver the child because he’s read about how to do it, and doesn’t call for the midwife. Ustina and baby both die, and Arseny begins a lifetime of reparation to their memories. As he matures he takes on new names along with new identities, ending with “Laurus”—“Laurus is a good name, for the plants that carry this name, laurus, are medicinal. Being evergreen, they signify eternal life.”—when he becomes a hermit monk.
I undertook this novel, having heard that it is the Russian equivalent of The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco’s 1980s debut mystery about medieval monks, one of my all-time favorite books (and movies starring Sean Connery). Though both works abound with monks, Laurus is not a mystery of the sort that The Name of the Rose is; rather religious “mysteries” like miracles, visions, and prophecies, are standard parts of the life of a medieval Russian saint. Laurus, like The Name of the Rose, is atmospheric and sucks the reader into a truly foreign milieu.
Laurus blends contemporary language with medieval-ish language such as “light wente awaye from myne eyes” with some really trendy words like “Take it easy; jeez.” Reading the translator’s note, I learned that he attempted to replicate the Russian version. Also there are some flights into more contemporary times like an extended passage that occurred in 1907. These, I came to feel, were used to reproduce the cyclical nature of the world, its seasons, times of health and plenty, times of sickness and famine, as the “shape” of time itself is important within Laurus. All in all, this book is a complex story about a simple man trying to redeem himself.
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Laurus(Oneworld Publications, ) is available through:
Your local independent bookseller | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
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