Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years by Chingiz Aitmatov
Translated by: John French
Genres: Science Fiction, Space Race Fiction
Published by Indiana University Press on 1983 October 1
Format: Hardcover
I like sampling fiction, particularly science fiction or fantasy, from other cultures than my own. However, I rarely have any idea how to identify or select works that would interest me. So when a Hungarian acquaintance recommended the Russian author, Chingiz Aitmatov, and his book The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years, I wasted no time tracking down a copy I could read. My thanks to the Inter-Library Loan system and Pickler Memorial Library for loan of the book. An enjoyable read but not at all what I expected.
Normally, I’d dive straight into what I think about the book. But I think it will make more sense if I give a little bit of background about the author. Chingiz Aitmatov1 was a Kyrgyz2 citizen of the Soviet Union from 1928 until its dissolution in 1991. He wrote the book The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years in 1980. This was before Perestroika and Glasnost…but not long before.
The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years is science fiction, but it is unusual in that the science fiction is going on in the background–a tale of first contact and humanity’s response to it. The main parts of the story center on Yedigei, a Kazakh rail-way maintenance-man in a remote village, told through his recollections of his life there, including retelling of two folk-tales. The recollections and folk-tales are what make the book fascinating–a glimpse of a world that I’ve only heard about in the news and only in broad strokes. While it is fiction, the book has given me a better idea of what life in the Soviet Union was like far away from the big cities. That’s what I found the most interesting about The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years.
If you’re wanting robots, spaceships, space battles and the like, this book isn’t what you’re looking for. The science fiction plays a small (but very important) role in the events of the book. If you like reading about other cultures or you’re interested in Russia in general, I’d recommend you read it. Its well-written and moving. A very interesting read.