Apotheosis

In the collection of the classic of Russian literature Yuri Polyakov, two of his most famous novellas, Apotheosis and Parisian Love of Kostya Gumankov, have been delighting readers for over thirty years with their psychological depth, originality, and unique humor. The author's essays included here, What is "Apotheosis"? and How I Wrote "Parisian Love", open a door into the writer's creative laboratory, telling about how the bestsellers, which have been reissued dozens of times, adapted for film, and translated into many languages, were conceived and created. Meanwhile, the movie novella Uncontrollable is a work with a dramatic fate. The accompanying essay, How I Was an Enemy of Perestroika, narrates Polyakov's collaboration with E. I. Gabrilovich and L. Z. Eidlin on a prophetic Mosfilm project that was shut down by the authorities in the midst of glasnost in 1987. The main role in the banned film was to be played by Irina Muravyova…