Legacy

Vladimir Sorokin's novels have always amazed with their accuracy of prediction. And if Sorokin's prophecy from "Legacy" comes true, no one will envy Russia. In front of you is the first major novel banned by the Russian authorities in the... 21st century.


The future has come and gone, the nuclear war is almost forgotten, not everyone has survived, and those who did will never be the same again. The peace treaty did not lead to peace: violence has become the norm and a necessity, tolerance for it is more infectious than the Bolivian virus. In the concluding part of the trilogy about Doctor Garin, Vladimir Sorokin depicts the next stage of post-apocalyptic decay, which is even further removed from us. However, its reality paradoxically seems much more recognizable. Indeed, we do not recognize the protagonist at once, yet he continues to embody dignity and humanity, as a doctor should.


The train, an unchanging image connecting Russian, Soviet, and post-Soviet literature, travels from east to west. Its fuel is people, not in a metaphorical sense, but literally, and they have nowhere else to run. But the wonderful doctor and his unusual heirs give hope that the mad world has not only an end but also a happier continuation.