Director of the TXT editorial bureau Anna Krasilshchik about favorite books
Wonderzine has long been a regular heading, where girls talk about their favorite outfits and equally beloved cosmetics. Now we are launching a new series in which we will ask journalists, writers, scholars, curators, and anyone else not about their literary preferences and about publications that occupy an important place on their bookshelves. For the first issue, we talked with Anna Dyer, the founder and director of the editorial bureau of TXT, as well as the author of the blog "Children are like children."
My grandfather Semen Dyer worked as an editor at the APN publishing house and fanatically collected books - at home everything from floor to ceiling was made with rows of shelves, and my grandmother was angry that there was dust everywhere. He treated the books incredibly reverently, did not allow to put the pages down - only bookmarks. In general, thanks to this passion of his childhood, I knew how a bunch of different completely non-children's publications — Platonov, Svetlov, Bitov — looked like without knowing what kind of writers it was. He also brought children's books, and I probably had everything that a Soviet child could have in those years. I learned to read at the age of five, and after that my mother slipped the books to me. She somehow still always knows what I like, and in this sense, my main adviser.
I used to read quite a lot - firstly, because there was no computer and telephone, and secondly, because every summer I was sent to the country for three months. Well, there is a little like in prison - what else remains. In general, this is how I swallowed assembly after assembly, as well as the endless files of “New World”, “Banner”, “October” kept in the country, and other thick magazines. I have some kind of stupid memory, and, alas, I don’t remember half, or rather, I only remember what I read at least two times. Most of all I liked the long novels - "The Forsyte Saga", the sisters Bronte and Jane Austen, Dumas, "The Damned Kings" - and all adventure literature.
There was such a wonderful multi-colored series “The Library of Adventures”, where Kaverin, Dumas, Jules Verne, Stevenson, Defoe and a whole bunch of beautiful books came out. And also orange Mine Reed, green Cooper, blue Jack London - that was all I loved too. But it is 9-11 years old. And at 12 my mother shoved "War and Peace" to me. For some reason, this book was periodically mentioned in our family, and I was sure that hellish tediousness. As a result, I, of course, fell in love with Prince Andrew and so on. When I came to enter the gymnasium of 1567 and they asked me which book was my favorite, I immediately called it “War and Peace”. The commission, of course, mocked because it did not believe. By the way, I still do not understand why. Well, and then I entered and, as I studied in the humanitarian class, I also constantly read.
I hate flying planes, but this is now the only place where I can get a hold on
Fortunately, my excellent literature teacher, Edward L. Beznosov, made some of us read it all, love it, and even understand a little. In addition, he brought modern poets to us for lessons: one time Prigov read his poems to us, another - Kibirov. And then I studied at the RSUH on historical and philological, there, too, all the time it was necessary to read, Lev Semenovich Rubinstein read his cards there in the Central audience, and there we went to a special seminar for the wonderful Galina Andreyevna Belaya, where they also discussed books.
Already in the last courses I began to write reviews - quite terrible, I must say, - and even worked for some time as a salesman in the bookstore PyrO.G.I. on Novokuznetsk. But the now famous poet Yury Tsvetkov, who was also selling books at the time, dismissed me because I couldn’t insert a check tape into a cash register, and that was insulting. The saddest thing is that now I read much less, because, first of all, when you work with texts, you stop perceiving reading as a rest. And secondly, there is too much around and, for example, it is difficult for me to concentrate. I hate flying airplanes, but this is now the only place where I manage to get a grasp - the telephone and the Internet do not work there. I flew to Istanbul recently - and I read Shchegla at the same time.
"Return to Brideshead"
Evelyn Waugh
It seems to me that this is generally one of the best novels and one of those books in which you fall into your head, but after reading it, you cannot put up with it and some kind of emptiness remains.
"Kid and Carlson"
Astrid Lindgren
I was asked to bring some important books - and I gently love this edition. Firstly, the pictures are very touching (my favorite is where the mummy Mommy lies, screaming at Uncle Julius’s false jaw), and secondly, for my personal translator autograph - the wonderful Lilianna Lunginoy with whom my grandmother worked.
"Magus"
John fowles
I still love Daniel Martin and the Ebony Tower, but Magus is probably the most. I read it ten years ago, but I forgot everything — probably, fortunately — and when I re-read three years ago, I did not remember the plot at all. And just like the first time. It later seemed to me that Donna Tartt’s Secret History resembles him in some way, but no one agreed with me.
"Big and small"
Victor Pivovarov
All my life - probably about a year and a half - I remember pictures from here. There is a speech about a little old man who lived in a big house with a squirrel, a parrot and all sorts of other creatures. She is kind of very touching, and when I discovered that she was republished, I was inordinately rejoiced and dragged my children.
"Mist lays on the old steps"
Alexander Chudakov
This is a novel about the history of the author’s family. When I was at school, I heard about Chudakov from the same Edward Lvovich and for some reason I remembered that he, a Chekhov specialist, had the same initials, the HSA. And then someone slipped me a novel, which just republished Corpus. This absolutely fantastic reading is a true classic Russian novel, written in an original and remarkable language. I don’t remember the details anymore - it’s time to reread.
"My grandfather was a cherry"
Angela Nanetti
Very rarely happens when you really like what happened, and this is exactly the case. About ten years ago, my friend Ksyusha Tymenchyk and I came to Ira Balakhonova to the publishing house “Samokat” - we really wanted to translate something. Ira put the catalogs of some Italian publishers and told them to write off. And although it seemed a bit unreal, I really got in touch with the editor of Einaudi, after which I was sent several books. This was the first. On the first page I already understood that this is mine and I will translate it. It is about an eight-year-old boy who talks about his family. Then I will not say anything, otherwise there will be a spoiler. I just recently wrote that there will be a reissue, so read it yourself - in fact, this is a rather adult book.
"Anna Karenina"
Lev Tolstoy
In one of the courses at Arzamas, Elena Isaakovna Vigdorova very accurately says that at different ages you rate the heroes of Tolstoy differently: at twenty you associate yourself with Kitty with something, at thirty with something you associate with Levin, and so on. This, of course, is exactly the case. In general, Tolstoy's heroes are so alive that they seem to penetrate you somewhere in the head or under the skin. When I gave birth, I thought about Kitty and Levin who was walking outside the door — although it would seem that there was no thought to be. Or when we drank wine at the school’s graduation party on the roof, I thought about Dolokhov from War and Peace, who drank champagne on the cornice for an argument. Or I see some handsome man and I think, aha, he will become my husband - like Prince Andrei at the ball (although this is nonsense). And so all my life.
"Help and dance"
Mikhail Aizenberg
"Poems and Translations"
Grigory Dashevsky
Immediately about both books, because both recently came out in the same "New Publishing House", both are in a blue package, forgotten at home with friends, both dream to quickly pick up and put them back. Finally, both are poems and both are written, probably, by the best modern poets.
"Promise at dawn"
Romain gary
I don’t like French literature very much - Russian and English are somehow closer to me, but this book is my favorite. The first time I read it in the “Foreign woman” edition - there was such a pocket series “Illuminator”, and the second time relatively recently - already in the “Kindle” and already with some other eyes, like the mother of a little boy.
"Notes on Anna Akhmatova"
Lydia Chukovskaya
The notes are not so much about Akhmatova as about the era - you learn and you begin to understand a lot about the period of the 30-50s, which captures the story. I read it in the eleventh grade, and it was incredibly useful - both in terms of history and in terms of literary history. And quite recently, I still read with great pleasure the notes of the same Lydia Korneevna about the translator Tamara Gabbe, Pasternak, Simonov and her other contemporaries.
