Uncrowned

«Igor noticed that if the year is strange, it is so in every respect: parting with loved ones, confrontation with the «stars of the neighborhood», unnecessary meetings and non-meetings with those who are essential. Complex events closely neighbor each other,... enveloping the duodecimal months, cluttering space.» The main character of Dmitry Dragilyov's novel, a journalist and Russian Berliner, is obsessed with mysterious calendars that change one another - it is to them that he ascribes the harsh contradictions of time. Throughout the narrative, the hero constantly finds himself drawn into disputes with friends: their images form a vibrant gallery, where they coexist with portraits of historical figures. The narrator himself is tormented by philosophical questions, unrequited feelings, and complicated relationships with the past and present, as well as with the old and new society, consisting of different waves of Russian emigration. His ironic yet sensual language, rich in metaphors, details, and poetic figures, seeks to convey both the absurdity and the tragedy of the experiences of people abandoned by history in a foreign space.