Philologist Varvara Gurov about favorite books

IN BACKGROUND "BOOK SHELF"we ask journalists, writers, scholars, curators, and other heroines about their literary preferences and publications, which occupy an important place in their bookcase. Today, the former editor of Theories and Practices, as well as the vocalist of the Fountain Group, Varvara Gurova, shares her favorite book stories.

Most of all in childhood I liked the audio performances and the record "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" with poems by Veniamin Smekhov and wonderful voices of Oleg Tabakov, Tatyana Nikitina, Sergey Yursky. I still remember the magical "Eat an Orange". Dad loved to read, so we have a large library at our home with collections of works - from Pushkin and Bryusov to the Fiction Library. I am sure that the love of books begins with adventures, and from there my interest in fiction also grew: my favorite film is Blade Runner. But it all started with books, with Ray Bradbury's stories, more precisely, even with “The Man in Pictures” - after him I decided to someday be sure to get a tattoo. Fantasy and adventure open up in the real world new and unknown: this diversity I will never understand, but at least I want to try.

Of course, you cannot read one fiction, escapism is an extreme. I am glad that the teacher of literature could not discourage my love for the classics. I especially liked Chekhov, Dostoevsky and Krylov. Tolstoy began to consciously read from the Resurrection. "War and Peace" was passing in passing, and I deeply worried about this novel. I started reading every time according to the school curriculum, but then I was late for what was interesting. I remember how I didn’t like Pushkin very much, only at the university I began to like his imagery in prose and verse. It is normal that everything begins with misunderstanding, even discontent. One interesting moment in the book is enough to get a close look at it.

I always wanted to write: in my childhood I wrote poems and stories, and when the question of profession arose, I chose between journalism and philology. I went to philology, having decided that it was a more fundamental education, and did not regret it, although I am now working in journalism. We had an excellent department of Spanish, I was literally shocked by Latin American writers and magical realism: in addition to Cortazar, Borges and Marquez, this is Mario Vargas Llosa, Alejo Carpentier, Miguel Angel Asturias. It seems to me that they have slightly changed my perception of both literature and the world as a whole. Everything seems rather unsteady and filled with many meanings at the same time. Particularly interesting is Hispanic perception of death, it plays a huge role in their spiritual life. My dream is to somehow go to Latin America and see it from the inside.

In principle, it was necessary to read very much at the philological department, including critics. Everything is obvious here: if you want to deeply understand "Eugene Onegin", read it in parallel with the extensive commentary by Yuri Lotman. To be honest, now I really regret that I studied poorly, that I went to work early. It seems that from the university I have retained only the ability to quickly read and write competently, which is now deteriorating with speed, the opposite of how quickly I type on the keyboard. At one time I read only non-fiction and noticed that I began to write worse and even verbally express my thoughts. Fiction not only draws people into the narrative, but also makes it possible to recall the language as it should be. I'm afraid to even imagine how quickly we forget the language. This is the main scourge of time - we use fewer words to express thoughts.

Now I try to alternate non-fiction and fiction: in order to understand myself and others, I read books on behavior and brain work. At the same time, I try to compensate for past omissions, sometimes to reread something. For example, I read "Ulysses", but somehow I was completely stupid, having missed a lot of details, so I have it in my plans. Sannikov Land is also on my shelf: it is interesting to compare impressions with a beautiful Soviet film. For example, I first read "Solaris", and then I looked. The film is beautiful, but the book is completely different, and I don’t think that Tarkovsky had a goal to repeat. His film is about a man, and the book is rather about the world around.

Dan hurley

"Become smarter"

The book with a terrible cover and title. But written in simple, good language, with many references and notes, this is a good sign, which means that a lot of work has been done and many facts have been verified. I read it because I wanted to learn how to improve concentration and attention. The author becomes a guinea pig and runs on himself a variety of techniques, tests to improve memory and intellectual abilities - moreover, all at the same time. I don’t know, consciously or not, but after reading the book I began to pay more attention to the sport, my friend and I bought a trainer for cycling home, and I also went in for music. Before that I was drumming a little, now I started singing in a band. And Hurley just says that sports and the beginning of classes with something complex and creative help to develop mental abilities.

Henry Rider Haggard

"Child of Ivory"

Book since my high school. The near fantastic fantasies are intertwined with the real historical epoch. In the novel Haggard heroes went into the wilds of Africa to find the descendants of the ancient Egyptians. The main character is the same as in the Mines of King Solomon and other works of Haggard, but so far he is not so famous and has not found legendary treasures. I like this book for the same reason that Indiana Jones does - for his adventures.

John steinbeck

"Winter is our anxiety"

The latest novel writer. The motto "Winter is close" would have been quite appropriate for Ethan Hawley, the main character. Contrary to the romanticization of the American dream of the 1950s and 1960s, there is no hint of hope in this book. Hero of his social and financial situation, but, having got out, he ceases to be honest with himself. Hawley discusses the entire book with the children of American presidents, thinks about his wife, brings sandwiches to a banker - in a small town they all know each other - and casually plans a series of scams that will return his former high position to his family. This is a book about the struggle between who you want to be and that to which society obliges you. And this is the choice of time that we make every day.

Seeds for Change

"Consensus Handbook"

This book was presented to me by the guys from the Tsiolkovsky bookstore for their birthday. We had a coffee cooperative, and the question of a competent discussion between several people who are building a business horizontally, was acute. On the one hand, the obvious things are written in this book. On the other hand, you can know them and fail to apply them. It seems to me that only after two years of my participation in the co-operative society did I learn to listen to others and communicate the most important things, and we all together could make a decision quickly. Although the human factor and emotional interest will always interfere with efficiency.

Kelly McGonigal

"Willpower"

Took to read this book from a friend - this is an example of a good book with a stupid title. At the end of each chapter there are exercises to strengthen your will. I did not do them completely, but even so, the effect is really noticeable. You start to resist the impulses and talk more about your actions. I will make a loud statement: this book, together with the economic crisis, saved me from shopaholism. I really like beautiful clothes, shoes. When I had money, I rarely could get past something I liked. Now I like to look at all this, but I only buy what I need. There is an ethical moment in it. I think it is important to approach such books without prejudice. For example, there are breathing practices to help. It was both simple and difficult - to concentrate on my breathing, and only: it seems that after a couple of seconds I began to think about something else. This is generally my problem, I can get lost in the subway and drive through the station, I can distract from work for something unnecessary, and then come back is incredibly difficult.

Harriet beecher stowe

"Uncle Tom's Cabin"

My love of reading began with this book. Of course, I read before, but it is with her that my first strong experiences from the book are connected. I was less than 10 years old, and I could not tear myself away: I read at dinner, missed by the mouth with a spoon of soup, and read under a blanket at night. And, of course, she cried when Uncle Tom died - a symbol of an idealized past era. It was a real childish shock - perhaps the first time I realized that good does not always win. Suddenly, I realized that the world is full of different people with different opinions and that they do not always manage to agree.

William Gibson

"Pattern recognition"

Gibson is a post-apocalyptic hipster. He has very different novels and stories: from bioimplants in "Johnny-mnemonics" Gibson moves to advertising technologies of transnational corporations in "Pattern Recognition". After retiring from reality in adventure literature, Gibson, on the contrary, leads somewhere deep underground — it is not very pleasant to be in his future world. There are funny facts. For example, Johnny has 60 GB of memory in his brain: now it is larger in many phones.

Ivan Efremov

"Road of Winds"

Yefremov is known for his popular science fiction. But besides artistic novels, he wrote a huge number of works and books about the popularization of science, about paleontology, the development of life on earth, about space, and the prospects for astronautics. "The Road of Winds" is a super-attractive travel diary of the USSR paleontological expedition to Mongolia in the late 1940s: half of the exhibits of the Paleontological Museum in Moscow are from this expedition. Scientists without sophisticated technology, armed with a self-made crane and a ZIL truck, traveled far south to the Red Rocks, in search of "dragon bones," as locals called dinosaurs. Efremov describes all the expedition’s cholendzhi: how at first everyone thought that they were in the wrong place, and less and less time remained, as the bones of a huge dinosaur were found, but they couldn’t get them out of the breed. Who can be more interesting to write non-fiction than a science fiction writer?

"World Literature"

African poetry

I found this book in the stairwell. We have such a swap there: you leave something unnecessary, but in good condition - someone takes it. “World Literature” is a very valuable series, especially old editions. Because the translators who worked with these texts are the best. Who will translate better than Nora Gal? The poetry of Africa is completely different from the usual poetry. This is not a lyric - it is the formidable manifestos of a whole continent that is shaken by the wars of independence, disease, colonialism, tyranny and inequality. Almost every verse is devoted to freedom, everyone reads avidly. One of them I took as the basis for the text of a new song of my group "Fountain". The translators have done tremendous work, retaining the fierce rhythms of Africans with bloodshot eyes, dry muscles, ready for battle. Who knows, maybe African poetry is the forerunner of rap.

Sherwood anderson

"In leg!"

At the university, we had a very boring teacher of ancient literature. In the last year I had to take a special course, and I learned that he was teaching American literature at the beginning of the 20th century, and then I worked a lot and skipped classes. Signed up for the course, deciding that there will be a freebie. This turned out to be one of the most interesting courses: few people with such interest disclosed their subject, gave interesting tasks for analysis, we had hot discussions in the classroom. So I met Sherwood Anderson.

He influenced the work of Steinbeck and many other authors. While Fitzgerald stared at the golden youth, Sherwood Anderson was one of the first American writers to raise the issue of social inequality and class struggle in the United States. The novel "In the leg!" came out the same year when the October Revolution happened, and a little later the crisis and the Great Depression began in America. Then both Hemingway and Fitzgerald, along with Dreiser and other Americans, also began to move away from embellishing reality to critical realism.