“The reason for circumstance, says Agafon, is people, not God.”

“…long life has convinced me that people themselves create their own circumstances.”

—Parfeny (p. 7)

Welcome to A History of the Island by Eugene Vodolazkin. In this episode, Rhea and Shari spend a fair amount of time trying to situate themselves in this highly unusual novel where the book itself is also the subject of the story; that is, the chronicle of the Island (that has no name). They talk about wild narrative style of the novel, wonder who the main characters are, and if there even are any (at least, human characters). They talk about the clear satire style of the novel, and the motifs they see so far: time, history, prophesy, and the absurdity of the tales within the chronicle itself. They wonder whether Parfeny and Ksenia will have a story arc on their own. They consider all the clues in the strange “From the Publisher” note to start the tale. They talk about how much this novel seems to be in conversation with Tolstoy’s last 12 chapters of War and Peace. They note how they each can feel all the hints being dropped throughout the novel they know they are stepping all over, before recognizing them to pick up and put the pieces together. And, they both agree that though there is much they don’t yet understand, they are enjoying the wildness of the ride along the way.

Look for Rhea’s reading guide for A History of the Island to release soon. She will be sharing a character list to help you keep track of everyone, and add to it as the story moves along.

If you liked this episode, you might also appreciate my notes on the final twelve chapters of War & Peace in which Tolstoy writes essays about histories, historians, and the question of fate and free will. The first one is pasted below. You can follow along each day afterwards (I wrote one per day for the first 12 days in January)

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