Serhiy Zhadan
Boarding School (Internat)
UKRAINE
BOOK
The Boarding School (Internat) is a novel about wandering. The journey the book is about is not long, but it leads between cities divided by war. The protagonist, Pasha, a perpetually indecisive and indifferent Ukrainian teacher, decides to pick up his thirteen-year-old nephew from the endangered boarding school at the last minute. It is January 2015, and war is breaking out in eastern Ukraine. The front constantly advances, so wandering through dangerous no-man’s-land will take several days. It’s cold, wet, rainy, and there are remnants of snow on the ground. For Pasha, the journey means growing up and finally accepting responsibility for his actions. The novel’s power lies primarily in its atmosphere, often unbearable and tiring but always brightened up again by the author’s typical poetic metaphors and subtle irony.
Published by Argo, 2023
AUTHOR
© Elena Ternovaja
Serhiy Zhadan (* 1974) is one of the leading Ukrainian writers, having written several poetry collections, novels, and two plays. In addition, he performs as a singer with the group Zhadan and Sobaky (Zhadan and Dogs); also, he organizes literary festivals and other cultural and political events. He did not leave Kharkiv, where he had lived since his studies, even when the Russian army was on the city’s outskirts. He has received numerous major awards for his works, such as The Leipzig Book Fair Prize and the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. His poetry collection The History of Culture at the Beginning of the Century (Istorija kulturi i počatku stolittja) (2013), his short story collection Big Mac (Big Mak) (2011), and his novel Depeche Mode (Depeš Mod) (2023) have all been published in Czech.
TRANSLATION
Miroslav Tomek
