Today, within the framework of the Siberian Historical Forum,the organizers held a presentation of book “Heart of Stone. The Legend of Siberia” by Andrey Kataev and Nikolay Gaiduk.
The presentation began with a film about tourist routes of the Yenisey Siberia. It was on the journey that the two authors met and eventually became co-authors of the book.
“I thought about the need to make some kind of story, some kind of legend about our entire region which will inspire people to come here,” said Andrey Kataev.
The first period of work on the book was 2005-2007. Then, when Andrey Kataev left Krasnoyarsk, work stopped and started again only in 2019.
Nikolay Gaiduk, who is known to readers not only for his prose, but also for collections of poems, noted that the work on the book was easy for him: “I realized that the plot of the book, the hero of which is looking for the promised Iriy, echoes the plot of my book “Volkhitka” and the novel “Tsar-North”. Both stylistically and thematically, it was very close to me: here we are also talking about the search for a legendary country that has become a myth for everyone.”
Myths and reality in the book are so intricately intertwined that the whole story and life in the novel is a fantastic reality in which the hero travels through the expanses of the Universe, along the roads of Russia and the worlds of Siberia.
The hero of the novel “Heart of Stone. The Legend of Siberia” goes its hard way through the troubles of everyday life, through adventures in time and space and finds himself, saves his love and remains true to his dream. He is a new hero.
After the authors told about their book and answered the questions of the presentation participants, Nikolay Gaiduk performed a musical composition. The presentation ended with an autograph session.