Consolations of the Forest, by Sylvain Tesson. Trans. By Linda Coverdale. Pub 2010, translation in 2013.
I sought out this book as the basis of a film we watched last year, Dans les forêts de Sibérie. The books is actually quite different, which was good as the film, promoted as being about a man living alone for 6 months, is actually a very odd buddy-film.
The book is very good. Tesson arrives at his rustic cabin in early February for a six-month stint on the remote shores of Lake Baikal in Russia. He’s been in the area before, and so knows a few people and a bit about the lay of the land, but he’s seeking the experience of hermitage and isolation and peace, all of which he gets and then some. His journal entries are short, daily descriptions of the land and life, his excursions on the ice and in the forest, and his inner journey of self-reflection and assessment. He makes the most of his time alone and with others, and is able to get close to that meditative ideal of being present in thought and action. When he’s not chopping wood or exploring the land and lake or sitting at his cabin window and watching the world, he’s reading. The outside world only intervenes a few times – some bureaucracy about a visa, two guests who bring newspapers, and a sat-phone text message from his girlfriend breaking up with him.
I confess that I was somewhat dreading this book, given my aversion to nature writing. But Tesson strikes a good balance between description and narrative, with enough rhapsodies about the beauty of the mountains and the lake to evoke the location and the cold. About half-way through his time there, he is given a couple of dogs to keep away the bears, and they become another of the consolations he experiences as they give him some necessary purpose when his girlfriend throws him over. By the end of his stay, he has truly made the most of his time, and has approached the peace he was seeking.
Fate: I’ll be passing this along to a friend that I hope will enjoy it.
And with this, I’ve completed my 2023 list :-).
6 – non-fiction travel
9 – made into a film
13 – place I’ve never been
21 – translation
25 – new author to me
34 – won a prize (Prix Médicis)
rclr 