Eco-Theophany and Silence in the Siberian Text: Astafiev’s 'Dewdrop' and Rasputin’s 'Live and Love'

• In Event: Siberian Text of Russian Culture?

Abstract

This presentation explores the concept of the “Siberian text” through a transcultural worldview that perceives nature as intrinsically sacred. Across ancient indigenous oral traditions and modern narratives, an “iconic” perception of the land emerges—a shared vision of nature as an intentional, even sentient, force. Focusing on Valentin Rasputin’s Live and Love (1967) and Viktor Astafiev’s Dewdrop (1978), this talk examines how silence, stillness, and solitude shape the heroes’ eco-theophanic encounters with the taiga. The term eco-theophany is proposed as an alternative to Eliade’s hierophany and Lidov’s hierotopy, which describe sacred space as created through human agency or metaphysical encounters. Eco-theophany instead captures a way of knowing the cosmos’s creative energy through nature, intersecting with indigenous traditions (including but not limited to shamanism) and early Christian mysticism (e.g., katharsis, theoria physike, theosis). Valerii Tiupa rightly argues that Siberia’s distinct physical reality makes it particularly prone to mythologization. In Rasputin’s and Astafiev’s works, the protagonists’ arduous journeys into the taiga culminate in transcendent encounters that lift them beyond space and time. These moments unfold through silence, stillness, and solitude, culminating in revelation. By emphasizing eco-theophany, these narratives assert a core tenet of the “Siberian text,” challenging anthropocentric conceptions of nature and broadening conventional understandings of the sacred. This perspective not only distinguishes the “Siberian text” but also positions it in dialogue with the literary traditions of Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Author

• Amy Singleton Adams, College of the Holy Cross