Those I Love Are Not Here

6 hrs. 34 min.

Language Russian

Author Sergey Yursky

Narrator Yurskaya Darya

Description

This book is a kind of chronicle and a portrait of an entire generation: a generation that was broken and partly destroyed, deprived of the usual comfort and support, internally not accepting authority while at the same time fully depending on it—cut off under the threat of punishment from its own past. Yet despite everything, it managed to preserve dignity, a sense of humor, and what is usually called “intelligentsia”: the ability to think about the common good and empathize with people—both close and distant—without expecting profit.

Sergey Yursky shares memories of precious encounters and the time spent with Georgy Tovstonogov and Faina Ranevskaya, Mikhail and Sofya Schweitzer, Alexander Volodin and Simon Markish. These famous names don’t appear here as bronze symbols, but as living people—people who loved and hated, argued and made mistakes, rejoiced and grieved, that is, truly lived.

The book is written with a heart full of sadness. But the author remembers: sorrow must be restrained, and even the deepest mourning doesn’t last forever. So when he talks about those who are gone, he tries to remember also the funny and the bright—those amusing episodes he was lucky enough to witness.