In Pursuit of the Word

 

The book by the famous Russian poet and prose writer Vladimir Aleinikov "In Pursuit of the Word" is unusual both in genre and in its structure. This is the prose of a poet, free, associative, rhythmic, leaning towards poetry, and... at the same time, it is a peculiar reminiscence of a bygone era and the creative people of a complex but talent-rich time, about friends and associates of the author in our domestic underground, one of the main heroes of which was he in former times. Among the characters in the book are now widely known artists Anatoly Zverev, Vladimir Yakovlev, Igor Voroshilov, Pyotr Belenok; poets and prose writers Leonid Gubanov, Alexander Velichansky, Heinrich Sapgir, Yevgeny Rein, Sergei Dovlatov, Konstantin Kuzminsky, Benedict Erofeev, Sasha Sokolov, Andrei Bitov, and many others; representatives of the older generations - Oksana Mikhailovna Sinyakova-Aseeva, the famous collector Georgy Dionisovich Kostaki, poet Arseny Alexandrovich Tarkovsky, poet and translator Arkady Akimovich Steinberg, the great watercolorist Arthur Vladimirovich Fonvizin. The founder and leader of the legendary SMOG fellowship, Aleinikov tells about this bright phenomenon of the sixties of the last century. Lyrical fragments alternate with portraits of various colorful people, with stories ranging from amusing to dramatic, forming a multi-faceted, epic narrative. It is no coincidence that literary scholars call Aleinikov the Nestor of the Russian underground and believe that his phantasmagorical prose ranks alongside the best works of Márquez. Vladimir Aleinikov's new book will undoubtedly be interesting and useful for contemporary readers.