(story)
Nina dreamed of great love. Such that both tenderness and passion, and I will die for you, and like a bird I will cover with a wing, and as in childhood barefoot through the dew together. But something didn't work. Nina was surprisingly pretty, and her figure was foldable, and her hair was long and shiny, and she sang charmingly and danced energetically. She studied in the third year of the philological faculty, she was ready to be a princess - the bride, but, apparently, the time of classical princesses is over. And Nina was very classical: sing, dance, talk about politics or art - that's all right. But as soon as another gentleman at a cheerful youth party, after an intellectual conversation or an incendiary joint dance, suggested Nina to go to a free room, she made big eyes and hurried to escape faster in splendid isolation.
At home, she complained in frustration to her dad that, they say, she didn’t arrange any such provocations, they just chatted, just danced, and in general, she wasn’t even in a skirt, but in jeans, well, why ... Father hugged his daughter, she was not to blame for anything , and let these intemperate goats solve their problems with the corresponding women, and a real man will always wait until the woman herself wants, and this real one, like a folder who looked after her mother for two years, she will definitely meet, and if she doesn’t meet, then the folder itself will find her.
All Nina's friends quite easily went into intimate relationships with their boyfriends, no, well, of course, not immediately after a couple of phrases at a drunken party, but on the fourth or fifth date. One of the most advanced friends, whose intimate meetings have already grown into vivid pornographic performances with the most unexpected plots, somehow hinted to Nina that being a virgin after twenty is indecent, and she should hurry up. It was she who introduced Nina to a friend of her young man.
Outwardly, Nina liked this Leshka, and on the first date she did not refuse him, like others, in a kiss. He made her a woman about a month and a half after they met. Nina did not want to, but Lyoshka was already simply languishing.
What nonsense, - disappointedly shared Nina with her friend.
Don't get discouraged, the first time is always a bummer. Then it will be better, you'll see.
But it didn't get any better. All these senseless somersaults made Nina sad, she wanted to walk by the fountains, and have flowers, music, and even better on horseback, and not shove across Moscow after work to a free hut left to her young man after the late great-grandfather.
Soon Leshka decided that Nina did not love him and at the same time met with someone else, and kept him in reserve. If these heavy thoughts overtook Leshka in a sober state, then he only sighed and looked at her plaintively, but as soon as he accepted a little, the performance of one actor, painful for the only spectator, began under the title “Why are you betraying me ?!”.
After one particularly impressive "concert", Nina could not stand it and left him.
In a couple of years, the New Year and Natasha's wedding - the way she dreamed of since childhood. Games, firecrackers, dancing, a couple of drunken friends of the groom, who at first languidly tried to go to Nina's, and then one went to the toilet and fell asleep there with his pants down, and the other started a fight over Stalin with some distant relative of the bride. Nina returned home alone. There, another strange story awaited her: while she was walking at the wedding, guests, friends of her student youth, came to visit her parents.
... she left for the New Year and said to her friends, after all, nineteen girls, in total, saw off to the institute for graduation, prepared, got married six months before the company friends all the time, drunk, he would come to eat, lie down on the wall, looks so sorry for the child, how to help, only after a year he began to depart, otherwise that’s all ...
He’ll find more, it’s easy for them, ”Nina sighed indifferently.
He is modest, this Masha was the first for him.
Mom ... okay, tell tales.
How's the wedding?
As usual. Contests, dances, and everyone got drunk ... And Natasha and Sasha, it seems, were really lucky.
And you will be lucky.
Yes of course.
Nina forgot, she was completely uninterested - and who is this suffering Roma, and who are these Galya and Misha, with whom her parents went somewhere to Seliger immediately after their wedding twenty-something years ago.
The New Year holidays have begun. Nina was lying on the couch with "Hello, sadness" by Francoise Sagan and was sad about the mediocre passing of youth, when a conspiratorially smiling mother entered the room.
Roma wants to talk to you, - and held out the phone.
“Nothing will work, although I liked the voice,” Nina thought in the subway on the way to a date. "His hands won't please him, or his lips...or his teeth." What to talk about? Work, institute, school? Funny. Well, not about the same one that left him on New Year's Eve. He will complain ... Then he will climb ... The first ... Hmm ... Nonsense ... "
His figure immediately seemed familiar to her, he reminded ... He reminded her of her father. Pleasant, open face, shaggy blond hair. Only he is ten centimeters taller than her father ...
I'm ninety-two meters in me, - Roma smiled, - when I enter the train, I bend down, the doors are not designed for such people.
They talked for five hours. Nina remembered everything that already seemed distant and unimportant: how she ran in the village from geese and after turkeys, how she once got lost with her cousin in the forest, but it turned out that they were two hundred meters from the plots, how she portrayed boiling water in a children's theater studio kettle, and everyone thought it was a porcupine. Stories flashed in my memory, I wanted to tell them as soon as possible before they were forgotten again. And he listened and listened...
I must have started talking to you, - Nina came to her senses. “I don’t talk much at all, it’s just that for some reason it’s nice for you to tell everything.
More tea and cake, huh?
You've already fed me three cakes.
I like the way you eat, - Roma fell silent, deciding something, - straight, I'm afraid to say, but I want ...
Speak, otherwise I have said so much, and you are still silent. Not fair.
I hated this cafe for a while. My ex and I used to come here often. And now I love him again, probably because you are here ... You said it in vain, right?
Well, what are you!
Nina thought that if after this evening there was no continuation, she would go crazy.
He walked her to the door.
We'll probably kiss. Such a great guy, but still...
Thank you for the evening, I will definitely call.
...and if he doesn't call...
He called an hour later, as soon as he arrived.
Are not you asleep yet? And I won't sleep tonight.
I will think about you.
Nina was afraid to believe. Everything was as she had dreamed of since the age of fourteen. They walked a lot, went to the cinema, theaters, cafes, skated. She had already been at his house several times, but he did not try to pester, although he lived separately from his parents, and nothing interfered ...
He was very strong and agile, practiced jiu-jitsu, could jump onto the table from the floor, and then do a somersault from the table and land on his feet. He taught Nina different techniques, threw her, quite tall, as if she were a plush toy, and she taught him to dance. Nina was not particularly successful in wrestling, and Roman in dancing, but with each meeting he became more and more dear to her: the warmth of his body, strong, calm hands, cozy corduroy shirts. She liked the smell of his sweat and hair, she was already ready to move on to more, but she wanted so much to linger a little more in this carefree-childish lightness.
He was fixing her old computer; so serious and focused. Handsome ... Nina came up behind, hugged him, began to bite his ears, and then poked her nose right into his ear.
It's funny, - Roma shivered. “No one has done this to me before.
Well, you can with the language, but I don’t know how.
The nose is better. Wait, I have a little left here, the patient is almost resuscitated.
Nina sat on the couch and began to travel her gaze from his neck down his spine.
Well, I can’t do that,” Roman chuckled.
Is it really felt?
Of course, you are our psychic.
After about ten minutes he finished and turned to her:
All. Ning, I wanted to tell you yesterday...
...we should have been long overdue... Well, of course, how much more can he endure, and so already...
I love you.
He was under the shower. Washed his head. Tall, slender, strong muscles of the arms and legs, a well-trained press, even beautiful ribs, like marble, a sculpture come to life ... Nina admired him.
What are you? - He smiled at her from under the soap suds.
The Pushkin Museum is resting.
Nina took off her robe.
Yes, just that, restless.
I'm getting so wild with you, - she climbed up to him, put her hands on his ribs.
Ning, I think it's tight for two.
Do you understand that you are perfect?
Ning, stop it, it still won't work here, the shelf is in the way.
And I don't want that.
Yes, - Nina moved her eyes and slowly knelt down.
…night. Big full moon. She walks barefoot along the path, and on the sides are white sculptures, naked men and women. She peers into every stone face. No, it's not, it's not. It seems that a thin girl with a jug slightly pulled her hand, pointing - further, further. Here. His gaze is fixed on the moon, but he himself is motionless. Nina climbs onto the pedestal, wraps her arms around it, presses her whole body against it, feels cold. Tighter, tighter clings. He strokes his stone shoulders and back, kisses his neck, rises on tiptoe, closes his eyes and falls to his lips. He seems to shudder a little, and the cold leaves, she feels soft lips, and then a living body, trembling from her presence. Strong arms scoop her up and they fall off the pedestal. “We have to make it before the moon goes down, otherwise they won’t come to life,” she exhales. Excitation grows, all her muscles tense almost to the point of pain, and after a moment Nina screams loudly, then everything in her calms down, she becomes calm and easy. She looks at the moon, which for some reason is now shining like a spotlight, forming a light yellow circle around them. And now - from each pedestal, stone sculptures slide off one by one, turning into living people ...
In this love, Nina lived in two worlds at once. And if he was not around, she could dream and fantasize about him endlessly. And in life, and in dreams, he was beautiful. The matter went to the wedding, but Nina hardly thought about it, she lived in moments, what kind of future is there ...
The parents took care of the wedding. At first, Nina did not want any restaurants at all, and even the dress seemed superfluous to her. But when she saw herself, dressed in white and fitted, in the huge mirror of the wedding salon, she decided that it was better to follow the traditions.
I'll take a walk for twenty minutes, - Nina burst out. By the way her friend was wrapping her bathrobe, everything was clear.
Come on, - Natasha grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her into the room, - where are we going to get away from each other? You just arrived too fast. Come to the kitchen. Where is your?
Yes, something was lazy.
Doesn't love us, right?
No. He just turned out to be so uncommunicative, I did not even imagine.
About five minutes later, the crumpled, but very pleased head of the family entered the kitchen.
Hey Ninok! And here we are, you know, we came up with a new game. The bull and the matador.
In a cow, not a bull, - Natasha corrected him.
In general, the Matador was waiting for the exit of the bull, and the cow came. Instead of killing, I had to love.
You are incorrigible!
And what? There will be something to remember in retirement. We shoot everything on camera, and we'll see in fifteen years. And how are you?
No, Nina shrugged.
This is in vain, - Sasha did not approve, - so I also thought at first, - well, stupidity, and then ... Without a kin, life is insipid.
Natasha, I need to talk to you.
Sasha, go smoke.
Do you have secrets from your beloved husband? - he hugged Natasha and rubbed against her neck.
She has ... Go, I'll tell you everything later anyway.
Dis-s-crimination, - Sasha sighed and went to the balcony.
Natasha, - Nina struggled to find words, - I'm probably exaggerating. Maybe everything is fine...
Let’s get straight to the point,” Natasha interrupted her.
Fine. Here you have ... uh ... how many times? Well, a week?
Looks like four. Today. The record is eleven, but you need to sleep well, eat there, well ... The main thing is not this ... I somehow don’t keep a general count for a week, it’s not accounting, after all, Natasha smiled.
But every day, right?
Yes. With rare exceptions.
And we haven't had it for three weeks.
Well, it's okay, Ning... Maybe he's getting tired.
And he doesn’t get tired of going to his wrestling three times a week ... And that’s not the point. You know, we didn't have passion at all, even on our honeymoon. As if for him it is ... like a coercion, or something ...
You think so. Everyone has a different temperament.
Do you think? In fact, everything changed immediately. At first I was glad, in everyday life it does not require almost anything, I cooked it - it's good, I didn't cook it - okay, myself. Erases, removes. Careful. But ... we are good neighbors, we don’t interfere with each other, I already learned how to walk alone, I can’t walk on weekends, but it’s better for him to watch films around the clock ...
Yes, everything is fine. It's just that before that he conquered you, but now he has calmed down.
What am I supposed to do?
Like what? Bring variety.
Matador with a cow? Nina chuckled.
No, honey, it's exclusive. Think of something…
Maybe you're right.
Then the three of them drank beer, joked, laughed, remembered, and Nina went home.
As soon as Roman got out of the shower, Nina grabbed him by the shoulders, pressed him against the wall and quite convincingly began the pre-rehearsed:
You and I are flying in a spaceship. It will explode in twenty minutes. Nothing can be done, nothing will save us. And before death...
Let's pray, - Roma laughed.
Actually, I had a different proposal. Okay, so it's not. We'll keep thinking…
And, I understand, it’s Natasha who is all your erotic education. Here's the bitch. It's all nonsense, Ning, vulgarity.
This is vulgarity with an unloved person, Rom. And with a loved one very much.
Yes, I do not like all this buffoonery. I don't know, it's not for me.
What about you? What were you fantasizing about? Should we try?
Well, what fantasies, I'm not a girl ...
Sasha is also not a girl, but they generally ... they came up with a bullfight.
Sunshine, don't expect performances from me. Alas, you are not lucky with your husband. Well, what it is, no one insisted ...
That's what it means, right? Rum, why do you need me at all? Seriously. You seem to be generally calm without sex, you basically don’t eat soups, and you get better meat than I do, we have different interests, I don’t understand your profession, you don’t want children yet. Why am I?!
Yes, I'm used to you, stupid.
And I don't need any more. In general, when we met, you didn’t seem very temperamental to me.
I then got used to you.
But now I'm used to it.
But after all, six months have not passed since the wedding.
And it seems to me that there are already three.
… his strong muscles are wrapped in a silver suit, multi-colored buttons flash around him. He sits at the console, as serious and focused as shortly before the moment when he confessed his love to her. She hugs him by the shoulders, presses her cheek to cheek, wants to poke her nose into his ear, as then ... But he pulls away and turns around sharply, panic in his eyes.
I can't do anything!
Nothing, - she wraps her arms around his face, even if, after all, we were, we were happy, and now we will become stars ...
Nina pushed hard thoughts away from her. She still had dreams...
Nina's work was boring, paper. In one scientific and educational institution with large gilded chandeliers and marble stairs. Academy of Higher Management Personnel. Students did not study here, only graduate students, doctoral students and applicants for scientific degrees from different regions, in the directions of their superiors. There were also Nina's parents at the age, and there were also postgraduate youth, who, through an acquaintance, were accepted into this palace for future big officials.
One of these graduate students was Nina's friend Allochka. In addition to her full-time graduate studies, she also worked part-time at the Academy's cultural center. I tried to diversify my graduate student life with poetic evenings, meetings with artists or writers, and then it turned out that a real director lives in the hostel, he was given a referral from the Committee of Culture of his region so that he would write a dissertation and also take up teaching work, and maybe what kind of boss he became in this very Committee or even higher. Their local theater did not flourish very much.
Sociable Allochka talked to him in an academic cafe, and they decided to put on a play. When Allochka was still at school, she really wanted to play Baba Yaga in The Tale of Fedot Sagittarius, a daring young man, but their literature teacher did not consider Filatov a serious author. They began to stage "Woe from Wit", Allochka got the role of Lisa. The girl liked this acting experience, but she could not forget about Baba Yaga ...
And now - an old dream was ready to come true, the director agreed. For rehearsals, a relatively large and better still not educational audience was required. Some kind of conferences and round tables were constantly held in the assembly halls, it was possible to persuade the business executives only for a couple of evenings before the performance itself, they were very afraid of expensive equipment. For working rehearsals, they were allowed to meet in the evening in the control room of the graduate school, and Nina worked there. That's how she became a member of this amateur troupe.
And who do you want to be? the director asked Nina.
Any of the female characters, I'm interested in everything.
I like this approach, - the director was delighted.
She got the role of the nanny of the Princess.
Already at the first rehearsal, Nina felt like a prima. It seems that Pavel Vasilievich, no one except her from this postgraduate company aroused professional interest.
Ninotchka, bravo! I have always said that texture is nothing. By the look of you, only snow whites play ... And we have such a nanny molded with you ...
Nina was happy, crawling on all fours and begging Sagittarius (graduate student Mamedov) not to be angry at the stupid Princess; and when she tapped on the crown of the tsar (Borisov's applicant), she did not feel tired, she wanted the rehearsal to last all night.
But not everyone shared her feelings. Forty-year-old Borisov liked everything at first. He rested at the Academy from his work, wife, child, slowly wrote his Ph.D., periodically started short-term romances with the graduate students he liked. Emotional pretty Nina was just his type, but this newly-minted actress was only worried about the king from a fairy tale, and not Borisov himself. It was insulting, and even more offensive was the behavior of Pavel Vasilyevich, who scolded him, as a little one, for an unlearned text and inattention to the intonations of his partner. Borisov did not like unnecessary conflicts and simply began to skip rehearsals.
And the hot Mamedov was seriously offended when the director called all his acting attempts cheap KVN, and if not for the diplomacy of Yagi-Allochka, he would have to look for another Sagittarius.
Now Nina came home even later than her husband after his struggle.
That evening, he did not even come out to meet her in the hallway, although he heard the creak of a key in the lock. Nina undressed, entered the room and blurted out at his indifferent back:
And what do you care about Zhana at this age? After all, you, as a man, I'm sorry, worthless ...
It's a hint? Roman turned around reluctantly.
This quote. Pavel Vasilyevich and I came up with such a move, as if the nanny and the tsar had something in their youth, he forgot, but she remembers and periodically hints to him.
So you found a hobby for yourself, now you don’t get bored.
But it's not just a hobby...
I didn't cook anything, I ate at McDonald's.
And I don’t want to eat at all, - Nina reported with some nervous joy.
Well, good.
Nothing has changed in their relationship. Only now they not only did not sleep and did not eat together, but also hardly spoke. However, Nina didn't care anymore.
... red-cheeked children, as if from old postcards, men in caftans, girls in sundresses, in three cauldrons seething and foaming. The grandmother is bent, leans on a stick, approaches one of the boilers. There is no way to straighten up ... What are they watching, what are they waiting for? - “Yes, you take away the stick from her. Take it away!" Enough - I don’t give it back, I can’t resist without it, and there, there ... And there the foam climbs out, hisses. And suddenly - instead of it, the blue is pure, so that it hurts the eyes, it pulls towards itself, and the clouds, transparent, cirrus, went over it. I'm jumping. Something hugs, envelops, small red fish around, and as if not on the water, but on the sky they are floating, I am spinning with them, spinning ...
I am standing on the balcony of the tower in a low-cut dress, a diamond necklace around my neck. And below it is no longer Russian people, but bonfires are burning and the natives are dancing. Romka is standing in the tower opposite, in his usual home T-shirt and old jeans.
Well, how do you like me? I shout to him.
He looks disappointed: “Maybe you will jump again?” - and bleats falsetto. He never laughed so hard...
No, after all, there is no hidden meaning in dreams, at least in mine, - Nina finished her story.
Awesome! And why don’t I dream of anything like that? .. - Allochka sighed.
On Monday, Nina was in trouble at work. The head boss's elderly secretary fell ill, and he asked for "one of the girls" from their department to sit in the waiting room. To call Anastasia Semyonovna or Olga Mikhailovna girls, their shy head of the department would not turn his tongue, and he sent Nina to the waiting room.
It was torture. Nina was not at all oriented in this leapfrog: “connect - do not connect, let in - do not let in, I’m not there - but there is something for this ...”. It seems that there is no work, only answering calls and guarding the door, and tea and coffee, but there is so much politeness that your head is spinning.
... well, I can probably last a week, Lyudochka Ivanovna, get better soon, I won’t be able to for a long time ...
At the end of the next secretarial day, Nina was supposed to have another rehearsal.
The conflict in the amateur troupe was long overdue, and Allochkin's exhortations no longer helped. The king said that he had protection in two months, every minute is precious, they say, excuse me, dear comrades, but I refuse the throne. And Magomedov said that he no longer intends to endure the director's bullying, since he also has pride.
Nina and Pavel Vasilyevich were left alone in the room. It was their total failure. For a few moments they looked at each other in confusion, and suddenly Nina began to sob.
Ninotchka, what are you... Stop it. Not worth it. Well, forgive me, I couldn't with these boobies. Nerves are not the same.
Marriage on its last breath, they hired secretaries here without asking, but I was in this waiting room, as if I were going to be executed. I lived this show. I have nothing but this...
Well, Nina, you will have more performances.
When?! With whom?!
And you go to the theater. There is nothing for you to do in this marble office, you don’t look at me, I’m something, but everything will work out for you, I feel it.
Are you seriously?
Certainly. You have no idea how much I enjoyed working with you, you are very talented, and not just a beautiful girl.
I have many years.
How many?
Twenty four.
Phew… I thought it was less. But that's not much either. Act right this year, and do not listen to your husband or parents, do not listen to anyone. You must play, Nina.
The conversation calmed her down. Yes, and the last day of secretarial service turned out to be easy: the chief from lunch left with someone to drink in another building, she only had to write down who called him.
But at five o'clock the door of the reception room opened, and a flushed boss burst in.
Well, shall I go, Pyotr Nikolayevich?
Wait, - he walked up to her with a staggering gait, grinned playfully and suddenly smacked her right on the lips.
Oh, Pyotr Nikolaevich, you didn’t calculate something today.
D-dislike… drunk, stink. Understand. So I can wear perfume for the sake of such a young and beautiful. You don’t look that I’m years old there ... many ... I still ...
I'm married.
And what? Husband - he is at home, and we are at work for now ...
The work day is over...
Okay, don't be afraid, - he patted her on the shoulder, with difficulty opened it into his office, then turned around. - Do you want to become a candidate of science by spring?
What sciences? - Nina was already wearing a coat.
It doesn't matter... L-any. Only ... well, in general, you understand ... - but Nina had already jumped out the door of the waiting room.
Why would you quit? Tomorrow he will oversleep and not remember anything, - the husband was perplexed.
Will he suddenly remember?
You yourself say that his secretary is leaving the hospital tomorrow.
And if she gets sick again, she's old. What if she retires altogether, and he wants to make me his secretary, my boss will not dare to refuse him.
You have such a wonderful job! You don't need a lot of brains, one canteen is worth something, and the salary is not bad. Yes, for such nonsense as you do there, in other places they pay a penny. Where will you go? There is no special experience, the education is stupid. You don't want to be a secretary. If only to school. Do you need it?
Or maybe I'll go to the theater.
Isn't it too late?
No. By age, I’m still passing, the last year. I want to try...
OK, try. Although, you know, Ning, I wouldn't have high hopes.
All her roles suddenly ended, there was only one left - a good housewife. Nina began to cook breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. Without any regret, she poured it down the toilet if Roman did not have time to eat, intercepting something in some cheap cafe after his struggle. Cooking and going to the store took time, distracted, stupefied. And now Nina most of all wanted to become as dumb as possible.
On that indistinctly gray day, she started a spring cleaning. She wanted nothing in one corner, not one crack, nothing anywhere. She finished at four o'clock. I looked around the clean apartment and realized that I could no longer be in it.
For some reason, her husband did not take her departure seriously. Called, joked:
Let's start over, shall we?
How is that?
I'll see you home, give you flowers, we'll go to our cafe. And then maybe you'll forgive me. True, I don't understand why. So they lived well for the last weeks, did not quarrel at all ...
Fine. They gave me the phone number of a very good specialist on these issues, let's go to him. This is my last suggestion.
That's what I was most afraid of, - Roma sighed, - Natasha is yours again ...
What difference does it make who?
I don't want Ning. Personally, I think that everything was fine with you. People can live differently, the norm is a relative concept. Everything suited me.
Well, what can I do now...
Natasha, having learned that the idea with a psychotherapist failed, with the help of a familiar hacker, quickly found the phone of Roman's ex-wife.
And what will I tell her?
And just like that, you will ask: why did you get divorced?
She will send me right away.
So what. And all of a sudden it won't send. Do you want me to call?
No I myself.
Nina delayed the call for three days. Finally, she couldn't take it.
Yes, he is not the orientation - she heard.
That is? - Nina could have guessed anything, but for some reason it never occurred to her. Even as a joke.
“Yes, it’s just that we somehow stopped sleeping with him very quickly,” she heard. - I liked him too. Intelligent, decent parents. He prepared me for the institute, and as soon as I entered, he immediately made an offer. I did not understand at first, I was inexperienced. But he seemed to be uncomfortable. I thought it seemed. And then it disappeared altogether. I'm telling you so frankly because I don't want you to get upset for nothing. Well, since such a thing, why fool your head? ..
- Thank you for your honesty.
Nina was on the subway. Prior to this, her friends sympathized with her for three hours vying, assured her that the fate of the new Knipper awaits her, and you just need to forget about this “wonder of nature”, and that’s it.
At one of the stations, a legless disabled person drove into the car, when he caught up with Nina, she handed him a ten. Suddenly he grabbed Nina's hand, grabbed it tightly, did not escape, and looked into her eyes. He had a young, pleasant face.
You are very beautiful, marry me.
I can't, I'm already married, you see, - Nina has not yet taken off her wedding ring.
It's a pity. Well, good luck to you. Or maybe kiss me, so, for memory?
Nonsense. They won’t believe anyone to tell, - Nina was already at her station, but she could not bring herself to go out into the street, meeting with a direct look the light of the lights of each new train. - Kissed. Why? Yes, what do I know...
_________________________________________
Writer, critic, journalist. Graduate of the Literary Institute. Gorky. She worked as a researcher in an educational institution, a correspondent for a news agency, a journalist, and an editor for educational websites. Published in the magazine "Koltso A", literary almanacs "Artbukhta", "LITIS", "Istoki", the newspapers "Slovo", "Literary News", LITERRA and others. Author of the collection "Awkward Souls" (2014). Finalist of the literary competition "Golden Knight".
Rina Mikheeva and her "The Secret of the Stone"
My friends and authors of wonderful stories in the fantasy genre, the magical world of which is just a magnificent decoration for expressing thoughts, ideas, beliefs. However, these principles do not stick out of the text, and the narration is exciting and dynamic. I never tire of being surprised by the author's imagination, which filled its fairy-tale worlds with amazing characters. I give here only examples of the works of these authors, but believe me, others are no less interesting.
My longtime friend and co-author Denis Vasilyev (also known as Rybin-Oksky, Autumn Romantic - for a number of reasons he publishes under pseudonyms on Internet resources), author of two poetry collections "Comments on Life" (2006) and "Confession of an Craftsman" (2013) . We worked together on the novel "Managers" (at the moment the novel is being edited again). Denis writes in the genre of historical fiction, prose miniatures, haiku likenesses.
I cannot but say here words of gratitude to Vita and Denis for their unfailing long-term support and assistance in any of my undertakings, and often for new ideas and inspiration.
Irina Mitrofanova is a graduate of the Gorky Literary Institute, my friend from the wonderful magazine "Artbukhta", the author of wonderful stories and short stories in various genres. Both childhood memories and everyday ups and downs live in them, and frank events from their own biography are intertwined with fantastic reality. But all this is united by an amazing author's style, a bewitching speech, such that one has only to open the first page of Irina's book "Awkward Souls", how it will be impossible to tear yourself away.
I'm sorry if I forgot someone or didn't have time to add. The section will be constantly updated.
Born in 1977 in Moscow. Journalist, prose writer. Graduate of the Literary Institute. Gorky (seminar by M.P. Lobanov). Member of the international creative association "Artbukhta". She worked as a researcher in an educational institution, a correspondent for a news agency, a journalist, and an editor for educational websites. Published in the newspapers "Vesti obrazovaniya", "Weekly news Podmoskovye", "Slovo", "Literary news", a number of municipal publications, literary almanac "Artbukhta", "LITIS", "Istoki". In 2014, Irina Mitrofanova's debut collection of short stories "Awkward Souls" was released. Participant of the seminar of criticism of the Young Writers' Meeting at the Young Writers' Union in 2014.
BRUTAL ROCKER ABOUT THE RUSSIAN VILLAGE: LYRICS IN A CASKETS
About Ingvar Korotkov's novel "My Village Rock: A Novel in Episodes" (M.: Vremya, 2014)
Ingvar Korotkov's book "My Village Rock" began to amaze me from the very first pages. It does not look like a continuation of the tradition of village prose, there is something clearly different, new, but why this was so remained a mystery. After reading to the end, I think I understood why. Our village writers were born and raised in the village, for them the village is a small homeland, whatever it may be, with all its pluses and minuses, it is in their blood and flesh, and they feel pain and joy for it, it is too much for them native. Yes, and modern writers in whom a village appears in one form or another in prose (Roman Senchin, for example) were either born and raised in the village, or came to their grandparents for holidays in their golden childhood. And now they are either nostalgic or suffering: where is my village, where are my grandparents, everything has perished to hell, degraded utterly and so on ... Well, or it hasn’t disappeared yet - it doesn’t matter, then my violent youth has faded or not very violent, but somehow connected with the village.
Korotkov is quite different. The narrator in the book is a battered by life, no longer a very young rocker, whose youth has nothing to do with the village. Yes, and he was thrown into the village by chance, or rather, some kind of internal anarchy - it doesn’t matter where, even to Mars; the eternal tramp flew into this quiet "Gribovka" like an alien whom the tribesmen got. And this "alien" begins to fall in love with this "planet" and its inhabitants drop by drop. Among village writers, love for the village was, as they say, absorbed with mother's milk, and, of course, the first stage of this love was not included in the component of this love, that is, falling in love, which can develop into love, or maybe not. And falling in love is, first of all, surprise and wonder. It is precisely these surprises and marvels that make Korotkov's "village creativity" different from those who continue the tradition of village prose.
Throughout the story, the hero-narrator almost does not participate in the unfolding events, he watches from the side, as if he is watching a very interesting film, cut into several series-episodes, and you watch with him, and you can’t tear yourself away, the characters are so colorful and bright.
The temperamental Baba Dusya, in her battles with the neighboring bird and cattle, who encroached on her garden, resembles an aged Valkyrie; quarrels - love games between grandfather Vasily and grandmother Nyura will give odds to any of the well-known modern scenarios of sexual games, you are amazed at how different variations on a well-known theme can be: “Lovely scolds - they only amuse themselves”; in the relationship between Tonchikha and her goose, there is such an intensity of passions, as if this is a confrontation between very different, poorly understanding, but, ultimately, loving each other mothers and daughters.
Among the funny, funny cases told by the author, there is a place for sad and even tragic stories. Such as "Kolya the Werewolf", "Mikha - Broken Hopes", "Faded Othello and Chicken Desdemona". But in each of the episodes of this peculiar pastoral, the music of life does not stop: either merry and indulging, then dodging hooliganism in the most unexpected arrangement, then crying tears of grief or enlightened joy. And even in the last village drunkard, such as Yurik the plowman, we, together with the author, feel God's spark, a living soul. That is why, after reading the novel in its entirety, there remains a feeling of some kind of fullness: joy, sadness and life, which is impossible without love. The same love for the distant, which suddenly becomes really near, love for life, which was a stranger and became so dear. And I want to end with the words of the author:
“And I stood on the balcony, biting my whitened fingers into the railing, and looked at the bottomless sky in which my soul soared, and waited, and knew that it was ALIVE ... Like the souls of my dear Gribovites ... They are always there, like LOVE, settled in me, warmed, revived, without which it is simply impossible to live.
A STORY OF INCREDIBLE LOVE AND A QUIET FEAT
About the novel by Galina Markus "A fairy tale with a happy beginning" (St. Petersburg. - "Written with a pen", 2014)
The novel by Galina Markus is multifaceted, everyone will find something of their own in it. For some, it will be a vivid love story with unexpected and exciting plot twists. Someone will seem closer to the topic of experienced childhood loneliness, moral development, the impact that relatives have on each other, and not only adults on children, but also children on adults. And someone, comparing the stories of Sonya and Mary, will try to find the answer to one of the most difficult questions - the question of forgiveness.
The author writes about what he knows. In the colleagues of the main character, representatives of local authorities, a doctor, rude modern youth, kids from a kindergarten, the reader may well recognize himself, his acquaintances, friends, children or parents. Well, what a fairy tale without magic... Along with the human characters in the novel, there is... a toy, a fox from the puppet theater, who retired to educate first the little, and then the adult Sonya. Whether he was really alive, let each reader decide for himself.
I have identified three main ideas on which the novel rests.
The first is the idea of real, God-given and consecrated in the church marital love, making the couple one whole. The author does not speak about this directly, but the canvas of the work itself is constructed in such a way that closer to the denouement you understand: it is impossible to separate these people, because the miracle happened, and the miracle is indivisible. And there really is no choice, to refuse this love would mean going against human nature - in the form in which it was originally conceived by the Creator.
The second is the idea of the natural life of an ordinary person with an "internal moral law." The way Sonya relates to children, to her sister, and to people in general, testifies to the integrity of her character, quiet courage, loyalty - first of all to herself. After all, "there is no sadder betrayal in the world than betrayal of oneself."
The third is the very idea of forgiveness, and even, perhaps, the meaning of life. It is worth noting that the author, of course, does not give a categorical answer to this question. And who can give it? All her life, Mara lived for the sake of others: daughters - her own and adopted, a spineless, unprincipled husband, an unfaithful friend ... Mara could forgive everything, up to insults and physical betrayal. The only thing she did not forgive was betrayal - in the spiritual sense of the word. But what do you mean you didn't forgive? It seems that she kicked out her husband, but then she helped him and his new family, because this was the essence of her character - to help someone who was unable to help himself. Embarrassed by her own nobility, Mara, doing active good, was terribly afraid of looking like a “heroine” in the eyes of others, or maybe even “abnormal”? .. This complex character, and his fate hurts, leads to some confusion. Sometimes I want to shout to her: they say, no one has canceled love for yourself either! - and suddenly you catch yourself thinking: what if this is the only way? And then you realize that personally you can’t do that.
Mary's daughter Sonya is not so unrequited, and in certain situations she can express resentment specifically and passionately. But most importantly, in all her actions, she acts as a deeply decent and merciful person, who is inaccessible to the feeling of mortal hatred for enemies, when, as they say, if it were my will, she herself would kill. She really feels sorry for them, she is very hurt and annoyed, but she does not hate them. Perhaps, this quality makes the main character really special, such as there are few, a bright representative of good forces, which, of course, will win, only the price of this victory of the spirit will be very high.
In the preface included in the book, the writer Ekaterina Zlobina called Galina's work a sentimental novel, explaining to the reader how a sentimental novel differs from a cheap melodrama. By and large, this is probably true. But if you start to analyze deeply, in "A Tale with a Happy Beginning" you can find some elements of a family saga, and an adventure (adventure) novel, and even a fairy tale. Therefore, I will complete my review with the famous words of Voltaire: "Any genres are good, except for the boring." Whether you think about everything that I wrote here, or think about something of your own, or don’t think at all - but the bright plot twists and turns will not let you get bored for sure, and you won’t be able to fall asleep over this “fairy tale”.
RADIO RUSSIAN MIR NEWS
On October 25, 2019, a forum-dialogue "Language Policy: All-Russian Expertise" was held in Moscow. It is organized by the Federal Agency for Nationalities. By tradition, the venue for the forum was the historic building of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation on Ilyinka Street. The final of the festival-competition "New and Perspective", which is an interregional platform for the exchange of successful design practices in socio-cultural activities, took place the day before at the Research Film and Photo Institute. This year the event was dedicated to the Year of Theater in Russia. The Independent National Internet Award "FOR THE GOOD OF THE WORLD" is awarded to individual authors and creative teams for goodness and humanism in art. An online competition aimed at supporting and popularizing works of literature and art, as well as Internet portals, the Russkiy Mir Internet radio channel covers absolutely all spheres of life in Russian society! Every day on our website you can hear programs about the Russian language, literature, art, music, painting, education...Born in 1977 in Moscow. Journalist, prose writer. Graduate of the Literary Institute. Gorky (seminar by M.P. Lobanov). Member of the international creative association "Artbukhta". She worked as a researcher in an educational institution, a correspondent for a news agency, a journalist, and an editor for educational websites. Published in the newspapers "Vesti obrazovaniya", "Weekly news Podmoskovye", "Slovo", "Literary news", a number of municipal publications, literary almanac "Artbukhta", "LITIS", "Istoki". In 2014, Irina Mitrofanova's debut collection of short stories "Awkward Souls" was released. Participant of the seminar of criticism of the Young Writers' Meeting at the Young Writers' Union in 2014.
BRUTAL ROCKER ABOUT THE RUSSIAN VILLAGE: LYRICS IN A CASKETS
About Ingvar Korotkov's novel "My Village Rock: A Novel in Episodes" (M.: Vremya, 2014)
Ingvar Korotkov's book "My Village Rock" began to amaze me from the very first pages. It does not look like a continuation of the tradition of village prose, there is something clearly different, new, but why this was so remained a mystery. After reading to the end, I think I understood why. Our village writers were born and raised in the village, for them the village is a small homeland, whatever it may be, with all its pluses and minuses, it is in their blood and flesh, and they feel pain and joy for it, it is too much for them native. Yes, and modern writers in whom a village appears in one form or another in prose (Roman Senchin, for example) were either born and raised in the village, or came to their grandparents for holidays in their golden childhood. And now they are either nostalgic or suffering: where is my village, where are my grandparents, everything has perished to hell, degraded utterly and so on ... Well, or it hasn’t disappeared yet - it doesn’t matter, then my violent youth has faded or not very violent, but somehow connected with the village.
Korotkov is quite different. The narrator in the book is a battered by life, no longer a very young rocker, whose youth has nothing to do with the village. Yes, and he was thrown into the village by chance, or rather, some kind of internal anarchy - it doesn’t matter where, even to Mars; the eternal tramp flew into this quiet "Gribovka" like an alien whom the tribesmen got. And this "alien" begins to fall in love with this "planet" and its inhabitants drop by drop. Among village writers, love for the village was, as they say, absorbed with mother's milk, and, of course, the first stage of this love was not included in the component of this love, that is, falling in love, which can develop into love, or maybe not. And falling in love is, first of all, surprise and wonder. It is precisely these surprises and marvels that make Korotkov's "village creativity" different from those who continue the tradition of village prose.
Throughout the story, the hero-narrator almost does not participate in the unfolding events, he watches from the side, as if he is watching a very interesting film, cut into several series-episodes, and you watch with him, and you can’t tear yourself away, the characters are so colorful and bright.
The temperamental Baba Dusya, in her battles with the neighboring bird and cattle, who encroached on her garden, resembles an aged Valkyrie; quarrels - love games between grandfather Vasily and grandmother Nyura will give odds to any of the well-known modern scenarios of sexual games, you are amazed at how different variations on a well-known theme can be: “Lovely scolds - they only amuse themselves”; in the relationship between Tonchikha and her goose, there is such an intensity of passions, as if this is a confrontation between very different, poorly understanding, but, ultimately, loving each other mothers and daughters.
Among the funny, funny cases told by the author, there is a place for sad and even tragic stories. Such as "Kolya the Werewolf", "Mikha - Broken Hopes", "Faded Othello and Chicken Desdemona". But in each of the episodes of this peculiar pastoral, the music of life does not stop: either merry and indulging, then dodging hooliganism in the most unexpected arrangement, then crying tears of grief or enlightened joy. And even in the last village drunkard, such as Yurik the plowman, we, together with the author, feel God's spark, a living soul. That is why, after reading the novel in its entirety, there remains a feeling of some kind of fullness: joy, sadness and life, which is impossible without love. The same love for the distant, which suddenly becomes really near, love for life, which was a stranger and became so dear. And I want to end with the words of the author:
“And I stood on the balcony, biting my whitened fingers into the railing, and looked at the bottomless sky in which my soul soared, and waited, and knew that it was ALIVE ... Like the souls of my dear Gribovites ... They are always there, like LOVE, settled in me, warmed, revived, without which it is simply impossible to live.
A STORY OF INCREDIBLE LOVE AND A QUIET FEAT
About the novel by Galina Markus "A fairy tale with a happy beginning" (St. Petersburg. - "Written with a pen", 2014)
The novel by Galina Markus is multifaceted, everyone will find something of their own in it. For some, it will be a vivid love story with unexpected and exciting plot twists. Someone will seem closer to the topic of experienced childhood loneliness, moral development, the impact that relatives have on each other, and not only adults on children, but also children on adults. And someone, comparing the stories of Sonya and Mary, will try to find the answer to one of the most difficult questions - the question of forgiveness.
The author writes about what he knows. In the colleagues of the main character, representatives of local authorities, a doctor, rude modern youth, kids from a kindergarten, the reader may well recognize himself, his acquaintances, friends, children or parents. Well, what a fairy tale without magic... Along with the human characters in the novel, there is... a toy, a fox from the puppet theater, who retired to educate first the little, and then the adult Sonya. Whether he was really alive, let each reader decide for himself.
I have identified three main ideas on which the novel rests.
The first is the idea of real, God-given and consecrated in the church marital love, making the couple one whole. The author does not speak about this directly, but the canvas of the work itself is constructed in such a way that closer to the denouement you understand: it is impossible to separate these people, because the miracle happened, and the miracle is indivisible. And there really is no choice, to refuse this love would mean going against human nature - in the form in which it was originally conceived by the Creator.
The second is the idea of the natural life of an ordinary person with an "internal moral law." The way Sonya relates to children, to her sister, and to people in general, testifies to the integrity of her character, quiet courage, loyalty - first of all to herself. After all, "there is no sadder betrayal in the world than betrayal of oneself."
The third is the very idea of forgiveness, and even, perhaps, the meaning of life. It is worth noting that the author, of course, does not give a categorical answer to this question. And who can give it? All her life, Mara lived for the sake of others: daughters - her own and adopted, a spineless, unprincipled husband, an unfaithful friend ... Mara could forgive everything, up to insults and physical betrayal. The only thing she did not forgive was betrayal - in the spiritual sense of the word. But what do you mean you didn't forgive? It seems that she kicked out her husband, but then she helped him and his new family, because this was the essence of her character - to help someone who was unable to help himself. Embarrassed by her own nobility, Mara, doing active good, was terribly afraid of looking like a “heroine” in the eyes of others, or maybe even “abnormal”? .. This complex character, and his fate hurts, leads to some confusion. Sometimes I want to shout to her: they say, no one has canceled love for yourself either! - and suddenly you catch yourself thinking: what if this is the only way? And then you realize that personally you can’t do that.
Mary's daughter Sonya is not so unrequited, and in certain situations she can express resentment specifically and passionately. But most importantly, in all her actions, she acts as a deeply decent and merciful person, who is inaccessible to the feeling of mortal hatred for enemies, when, as they say, if it were my will, she herself would kill. She really feels sorry for them, she is very hurt and annoyed, but she does not hate them. Perhaps, this quality makes the main character really special, such as there are few, a bright representative of good forces, which, of course, will win, only the price of this victory of the spirit will be very high.
In the preface included in the book, the writer Ekaterina Zlobina called Galina's work a sentimental novel, explaining to the reader how a sentimental novel differs from a cheap melodrama. By and large, this is probably true. But if you start to analyze deeply, in "A Tale with a Happy Beginning" you can find some elements of a family saga, and an adventure (adventure) novel, and even a fairy tale. Therefore, I will complete my review with the famous words of Voltaire: "Any genres are good, except for the boring." Whether you think about everything that I wrote here, or think about something of your own, or don’t think at all - but the bright plot twists and turns will not let you get bored for sure, and you won’t be able to fall asleep over this “fairy tale”.
