Books, Years, Life. Autobiography of a Soviet Reader

What would an autobiography of a Soviet intellectual look like if it were placed within the conceptual framework of a reader's biography? The author of these memoirs, N.Yu. Rusova, undertook to experiment and refer to her personal past, relying on... the books she has read and the impressions they have evoked. As an expert in fiction, she discusses her reading circle, paying attention to philological and historical details. In her narrative, favorite poems and prose are not only closely related to the events of personal or professional life but also immersed in a political and cultural context. An important task that the author sets for herself is to preserve on the pages of the book a testimony to the reader's culture that has been forever lost.