Emigration, shadow by the fire

Emigration is an ancient phenomenon that experienced a peak of poeticization during the First World War and was heavily romanticized thanks to Vasily Kandinsky, Ivan Bunin, and Fyodor Shalyapin. Leaving one’s homeland is never a trivial matter – it is a tremendous test of character, a certain break and shift of fate, a challenge that a person throws not only to themselves but also to the world. The greatest artists of the early last century and modernity have gone through emigration, and it did not pass by Dina Rubina, whose work has become an undeniable touchstone of Russian literature at the end of the century. In this book, the author has specially gathered stories that are somehow related to the theme of finding new land and renouncing the old. They contain humor, sadness, irony, and compassion that embrace everyone for whom this has just happened or who will face it. The experience of emigration cannot be universal; however, it – passed down from a great artist – has the property to help and support. This is precisely why this book was conceived.