Long Cries

Yuri Pavlovich Kazakov 1927–1982 – a classic of 20th century Russian literature. His stories, which emerged in the mid-fifties, had an astounding success – the author was seen as a successor to Bunin; there were immediate aesthetic disagreements with the... official criticism. However, the author of the brilliant novellas Manka, Trali-Vali, Arctur – a hound dog always lived in his own way, not looking back at authorities or detractors. He did not adapt. He did not fuss. That is why his prose remained not only a monument of its time but also a living, understandable conversation even now. A writer for all times. By the Hamburg score, Kazakov is the first prose writer of the era. He was not a rebel. But the courage of the artist lies not in rebellion but in the ability to overcome the mute space. Andrei Bitov He described a sullen, sleepy man, hiding his nose in the collar of a railway chief's overcoat somewhere "at a wayside station" as if nothing had changed under the Russian sky since Chekhov's time... And so he passed like a shadow, like a cloud, not playing in unison or in counterpoint with the era. Lev Anninsky