Опубликовано в журнале Дружба Народов, номер 7, 2006
Being highly topical the new novel by the world-known writer CHINGIZ AITMATOV “When the Mountains Are Falling Down” (“The Eternal Bride”) is written in the manner which had been always appreciated by the admirers of the author’s talent: mythological parallel (the life of a wild beast — the life of a man) is being unrolled as a full-scale metaphor of today’s reality.
The short story “Pension” by a young Tadjik journalist ALEXEI TORK has been washed out like a grain of gold in the gold-fields of “DN’s” unsolicited mail. The horrible events taking place in a neglected by God and people Tadjik village are described with that fearless wit which involuntary evokes the memory of Babel’s tradition.
ROMAN SENCHIN. We Are Going Out On a Visit.
The protagonists of this short story — young country dwellers — are going to see… an AIDS-sick man. Such is the plot.
DINA RUBINA. Porcelain Tricks. The short story is written in the form of an interview through which the age and the life of a china-ware artist are vividly showing.
The present collection of poems by EFIM BERSHIN undoubtedly is one of the adornments of this issue. For all their terseness his verses strike by the novelty and freshness of images and metaphors.
H. SELDON. Chernobyl in the Mirror of Three Generations.
For some of us Chernobyl is a part of private life experience, for others — an event of ancient history turned into a myth… 20 years have passed since the lamentable Chernobyl catastrophe. A new generation has grown up. What do those who are twenty know about the past? Do we correctly remember what we remember? The St-Petersburg school of scening functioning under the assumed name of “H. Seldon” (borrowed from the fantastic works by Isaac Azimov) presents their multidimentional view of this actual problem.