The Memory of the Body. Stories about Love

This book is a kind of encyclopedia of romantic collisions and plots, unusual both in its degree of erotic candor and in the diversity of situations: from playful and ironic to tragic and fatal. Intellectual prose intersects with eroticism — a rare combination of genres, especially in Russian literature. The collection carries a leitmotif of the inseparable connection between love and creativity, Eros and Logos. A writer, artist, scientist, philosopher, psychologist, philologist, journalist, historian, editor, lecturer, librarian — not only the professional affiliation of the characters but also the prism through which their love relations are refracted.

“Provocatively intelligent” — this description of one of the heroines can be attributed to many others. Driven by a thirst for knowledge and self-expression, the characters experience physical closeness as a challenge, a risk, an existential test. This determines both the psychological tension of conflicts among them and the sharp turns of the plot, along with unexpected resolutions. Even fleeting flashes of love leave a mark in the “memory of the body” and can illuminate an entire life, becoming its meaning and justification.