This time, we are talking about the interesting innovations of the last months only from Russian-speaking writers. Pelevin and Sorokin’s new novels, gay drama, feminist prose and historical fantasies selected eight worthwhile books.

De Feminis, Vladimir Sorokin (M.: AST, Corpus, 2022), 18+

Vladimir Sorokin’in his new book – nine stories about women “in conditions hostile to female nature”. A concentration camp guard dreams of sex, writes a poem “a great novel”, War and Peace’He translates all the adjectives in the book to the word “monster”, an artist builds his career on a childhood rape, a chess player meets an angel, a Soviet Student meets an American scientist.

All heroes experience violence in one way or another that irreversibly changes them, but the author-conceptualist, of course, is not interested in this spiritual experience as a person – as always Sorokin’The plot serves the form, as is the case, and is a field for juggling favorite topics: bodily butt, violence, cannibalism – as is the game played with the entire Sorokinian classic trio, the literary canon and endless quotations from the classics. In general, there is everything that the author did not like very much – but perhaps too little that is new.

KGBT+, Viktor Pelevin (M.: Eksmo, 2022), 18+

Sorokin is main in form, while postmodernist Pelevin is in content and meaning. A new novel with a provocative title in today’s realities, Pelevin’previous novel by Transhumanism Inc.’continues to introduce the universe of in; here immortality is offered to the wealthy in the “banks” – no physical bodies, just brains connected to millions of electrodes. and virtual reality. In this world there is a “beater” Kei or KGBT + – an artist in the new format, something between our rappers and modern artists. “The Chopper” broadcasts meanings – presenting new ideas directly to the audience through a brain implant, thus creating a collective meditation.

Kay talks about herself: Half of the book is covered by the protagonist’s autobiography with advice to the younger generation, instructive stories, and “motivating” phrases so beloved in self-help literature. The other half, Pelevin’Sasaki, the master of fighting puppets, judging by his work, which has long been practiced by’A story about the rebirth of religion and the philosophy of Buddhism.

The reader is also invited to practice: In the book there is the idea that we do not choose the times in which we live, we choose how we relate to them. In a situation where humanity is seriously preparing for a nuclear war, the thought sounds comforting.

“Father Looks West”, Ekaterina Manoilo (M.: Alpina. Proza, 2022), 18+

“Father Looking West” by Ekaterina Manoilo’High School Award for Young Writers’her first novel. This is Katya, a girl who grew up in the Eastern patriarchal world and is searching for her identity.’It is the story of the ninja: his mother is Russian and Orthodox, his father is Kazakh and Muslim. The main event for the hero and his family is the death of his brother, the long-awaited son that his family dreams of, and the main character, Katya’It is the father who, together with himself, determines the complex relationship. tone of the novel. Katya, an adult and fleeing to another city, repeatedly returns to the events of her childhood, trying to understand what happened.

The novel features many national daily details such as slaughtering horse meat or local customs, but behind the colorful details and lively characters, Russia in general’A story appears familiar to many families in the U.S. – it’s a story about domestic violence, a toxic environment. the humiliated and powerless position of a woman.

Critics call the novel a socio-psychological drama and a strong feminist statement, and Manoilo admits that he relied heavily on his own history and gave the hero not only his name, but also biographical details: he openly says he did it for 15 years. She did not communicate with her father and did not even come to his funeral. Such a call to reality allowed some to write the novel in the now fashionable autofiction genre, but despite the tangible kinship with him (immediately Oksana Vasyakina’I remember the Steppe of God), the novel is more than that: there is both mysticism and romance. growth story, psychological drama and horror.

“Officially” the novel will be published only in November by the publishing house “Alpina. Proza”, but the abridged version can already be read in the magazine “New World” or in the collection of the finalists of the “Lyceum” award (AST). , 2022).

“Part of the picture”, Asya Volodina (Strings, 2022), 18+
“Hero”, Asya Volodina (M.: AST, edited by Elena Shubina, 2022), 18+

An interesting case in the world of Russian literature: the aspiring writer Asya Volodina made her debut with two novels at once in different publishing houses – “Protagonist”, “Elena Shubina’Published in the “Part of the Picture” edition of the new book service “Lines”, the old “MTS Library”.

Both novels are almost psychological thrillers about the world of education. “Part of the Photograph” is about a school where the teacher is fighting the system, injustice and the indifference of his colleagues, “The Protagonist” is about a university where everyone is shocked by the suicide of a student.

“Part of the Picture” is the 2020 Lyceum Prize finalist novel about the underside of school life and people in general. Sofia Lvovna is a woman with a difficult fate who has a secret in the past and who unwittingly finds herself at the center of a multi-level intrigue that is the driving force of the conspiracy. In “The Protagonist” everything is even more twisted: a student of a prestigious Academy (MGIMO is apparently the prototype) commits suicide and leaves a note blaming the university and the teacher personally. Other story – Nikita’Nine stories of nine different characters who know the character and nine versions of them who are truly criminals.

Plenty of time in both novels (covid, elections, 90′”Greetings”) and there will be an unsurprising philological basis – Volodina’He is a philologist and teacher himself, so he knows what he is talking about. Interesting storytelling.

“Invasion”, Yulia Yakovleva (M.: Alpina nonfiction, 2022), 18+

An extremely diverse writer, Stalin’Creator of the popular youth series “Leningrad Tales”, in which the repression and blockade of China collides with magical realism, the action’s 1930s’He is a ballet historian and the author of elegant detective stories in which Greta Thunberg’The satirical opus “April,” where all sisters go for earrings, from”s Man”. Now Yakovleva Leo’he shook it, you know, Tolstoy’Our hope: “Invasion” is an homage to “War and Peace”, in which familiar faces flash (here, St. Petersburg’and they retell the gossip about Count Bezukhov, here Andrei Bolkonsky comes to visit).

The action takes place in the Smolensk province on the eve of the war of 1812: it has not yet begun, but everyone is talking about it – there is anxiety in the air. The old world collapses, social tensions reach a climax, and Burmin, the landowner, suddenly begins to suffer strange attacks, after which the people in the village are repeatedly torn to pieces.

Yakovleva’As is often the case, here intense historical prose combines with magical realism – which Tolstoy never dreamed of.

“The shadow behind his right shoulder”, Alexander Sobolev (E.: ID Ivan Limbakh), 2022, 16+

Silver Age’A delightful novel for those who are in love with the novel, because the writer Alexander Sobolev, a poetry researcher and philologist at the time, fell in love with it.

Officially this is Russia full of revolution’The mysterious Anna, who escaped from the country, had many adventures and tried to understand what was happening in the country at the same time.”s diary. Years later, her notes are found by a random visitor of a second-hand bookstore, and this finding, of course, changes her life.

Reality and mysticism, fascination and intellectuality go hand in hand in the novel, and the depictions of the “beautiful period” that have been irrevocably left behind are so accurately conveyed that it would be right to believe that he was actually reading the diary of that time.

“What is the swallow silent about”, Elena Malisova, Katerina Silvanova (M.: Popcorn Books, 2022), 18+

The continuation of the most scandalous and most popular book of the year – the novel “Write on a Pioneer’s Tie” about the love of a counselor and a pioneer.

A few introductions. Even at the pre-order stage, LVPG became a bestseller: the book was born from fanfiction and went into print with its own rather impressive fanbase. Then there was a circulation of 200,000 (excluding electronic copies) – an unthinkable number for the Russian book business, and a year later – accusations of “LGBT propaganda”. The upheaval in the story of the two lovers was noticed by Zakhar Prilepin and Nikita Mikhalkov, who attacked the authors and the publishing house with criticism, after which the book began to gargle in all media channels that broadcast “family values” – there were threats and calls to check for “propaganda” and broadcast on federal channels. All this naturally LVPG’even more popular – now those who didn’t even know what “fanfiction” was and even more wanted to read “slash”.

Discussions in the media and social networks, readers crying (from excessive emotions while reading), fan art, Twitter threads, tattoos with favorite quotes, merchandise – from a literary event, the book has become a local popular culture. phenomenon. In general, everyone talked about LVPG – from serious critics who analyzed the language and style of the novel, to people who spoke in the traditional “I did not read, but I condemn” genre. Whether the book will become that popular without the accompanying hysteria is a matter for subsequent marketing research, but it’s clear that the audience has already “warmed up” when the sequel is released.

Yura and Volodya’The continuation of the story of “Quiet about the swallow”. The duo, who had a sensitive and bitter love story in their youth, met again after 20 years of separation and it seemed they should have been happy. However, as you know, “it will never happen again” and resurrecting your first love when you turn 30 is difficult, so there is predictably a lot of drama or fanfiction-language “glass” (slang) in the book. , “glass” is an extremely emotional and sad story with a touch of despair, in which everyone suffers a lot. – Approximate edition).

Perhaps neither the first nor the second novel will impress an experienced reader – after all, this is quite naive prose, appealing mainly to a young audience, and the language will seem too simple (after all, the novel was born from fanfiction), but still worth reading: from anthropological interest not much, just though it is still possible – new initiatives of legislators endanger whole books with “LGBT propaganda”.

By the way, about “propaganda”: the gay novel that moralists fear so much, publishes five timid kisses, and the sex scene is recognizable only if you try hard. Mikhalkov and Prilepin in general’It is clear that they have not yet seen the Elite series with their passion.