Our Little Paris

In my experience, every translator has that one particular, special project; a book (or play, or poem cycle…) close to their heart, that they long to bring to a wider audience. My own obsession is Viktor Likhonosov’s Our Little Paris, which I stumbled across when researching my doctoral thesis on the Kuban Cossacks. It’s an unpopular opinion among Cossack activists, but arguably the revival movement would have struggled to gain traction had it not been for the publication of Likhonosov’s magnum opus in the mid-80s (granted, the Kuban Cossack Choir and the Felitsyn Museum also played host to important preparatory work in bringing the Cossack back to the public consciousness). But relying on such dry, academic reasoning risks missing the real pleasures of the novel, and underplaying the very human range of emotions it conveys at the loss of an entire way of life. To learn more, please feel free to explore the following links:

  1. A brief biography and bibliography of Likhonosov.
  2. Some reasons why the novel deserves a wider audience.
  3. Extracts and translations from the novel.

The English-language rights to the entire work are available. Please do not hesitate to contact me to discuss any aspect relating to the novel. Meanwhile, I’m delighted to share with you this exclusive footage of Viktor Ivanovich reading a passage from Our Little Paris, with subtitles from my translation:

(Depending on your browser, you may need to select subtitles manually.)