The Fog Lies on the Old Steps

The novel «The Fog Lies on the Old Steps» has been recognized by the jury of the «Russian Booker» award as the best Russian novel of the first decade of the new century.
The outstanding Russian philologist Alexander Chudakov (1938—2005) wrote a book that many literary scholars and readers considered autobiographical — the concentration of historical truth is so high and the feelings and thoughts of the characters are so authentic. But this is not a biography — it is an image of the true Russia in its most difficult years, «a book that is hilariously funny and incredibly sad, terrifying and life-affirming, epic and lyrical.
An intellectual Robinsonade, a coming-of-age novel, “a human document”» («Novaya Gazeta»).
The new edition includes inserts and corrections prepared for it in 2005. The book is supplemented with excerpts from the author's diaries and letters, which allow tracing the history of the book's creation, the idea for which was formed when he was 18 years old.