Incorporating aquatic motifs into his novel Pathologies, Zakhar Prilepin ascribes different functions to them. Firstly, in ‘Chechen story’, water takes the form of rain that constitutes an ordinary, thought irritating, atmospheric phenomenon. However, when the young protagonists fight under siege in Chechnya, water acquires a symbolic meaning, becoming a dire portent of death. In the final scenes, set in Chechnya, water changes its connotation and saves the survivor Russian soldier’s lives. Besides, water plays in...