THIRST by Andrei GUELASSIMOV

THIRST by Andrei Guelassimov - Translated from Russian by Jüelle Dublanchet - Éditions Babel / Actes Sud (Le Méjan Place Nina-Berberova, Arles) - 2004 - 127 pages - Softcover. A young Russian soldier returns from his military service in Chechnya with his face monstrously burned after his tank was attacked by the boeiviki. To forget, Kostia, whose face terrifies children, starts drinking like only Russians know how... to death. He follows the teachings of a failed painter who taught him two things: to drink vodka without fuss and to open his eyes to the world to better paint it. With two of his comrades, he sets out to find the fourth survivor of the tank crew they formed in Chechnya. In their journey through Russian cities, their train stations, their streets, their fauna, Kostia will put into practice the second essential lesson of his master: to learn to see, therefore to draw, therefore to live.