A fine example of Village Prose from the post-Stalin era, Farewell to Matyora decries the loss of the Russian peasant culture to the impersonal, soulless march of progress. Valentin Rasputin's novel of a village destroyed by anonymous technology argues that mankind can only be spiritually regenerated by returning to the old rural way of life.

It is the final summer of the peasant village of Matyora. A dam built for a hydroelectric power station will be completed in the fall, flooding the island and destroying the village. Although their departure is inevitable, the characters over when, and even whether, they should leave; the older villagers feel an organic tie to the earth that the younger ones and newcomers do not, and the loss of this intangible link demonstrates not only the disintegration of the village but also the deterioration of man's relationship both with nature and with his past.