Echocardiology is the science of using high frequency sound waves to create pictures of the heart. During an echo test, a doctor observes the functionality of the heart, monitoring the pathways by which blood moves for any irregularities. Before he became known as one of the best living prose writers in Russia, Dr. Maxim Osipov co-wrote a textbook on the subject: Clinical Echocardiology (1993). For years, he was largely known for his work as a doctor and publisher of medical literature. That all changed in 2005 when a patient and close friend of his died. Osipov gave the man's widow sections from his diary that contained references to her husband. He told her not to show them to anyone. She showed them to everyone, including publishers. Eventually, Osipov's diary entries came out in the Russian journal Znamya (The Banner). From there followed more short stories, literary prizes, and a reputation—befitting a cardiologist—for producing, now through words, piercing images of the inner workings of the human heart.
Osipov's new book, Rock, Paper, Scissors, is a collection of short stories translated from Russian by an award-winning team of translators (Boris Dralyuk, Alex Fleming and Anne-Marie Jackson) and comes with foreword by none other than Nobel prize winning author Svetlana Alexievich. It is an ironically glitzy English language debut for an unassuming middle-aged writer who lives outside of Russia's glamorous capitals of Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Osipov, who is 56 years old, lives in the small town of Tarusa, Russia (population 9,660). It is just 90 miles south of Moscow, but it might as well be on the other side of the planet (which would geographically be Russia too I guess). Osipov continues to practice medicine in Tarusa, thanks largely to himself. In 2007, when the town's only hospital faced closure, he created a charitable foundation to keep it afloat. He still runs the foundation and posts fundraising calls for various pieces of medical equipment on his Facebook account.
Read Full Article »