Normal as an Apple: A Biography of Leonid Gubanov

The first complete biography of Leonid Gubánov—the poet and one of the symbols of free art of the 1960s.

A documentary account of persecution, bans, and the inner courage of an artist who left a noticeable mark on 20th-century literature.

Leonid Gubánov (1946–1983) is a bright poet and artist, founder of the legendary unofficial association SMOG (“The Youngest Society of Geniuses”). His poems and long narrative poems were, even during his lifetime, perceived by connoisseurs as rare works by the power and originality of domestic literature, though they were circulated almost underground. His tragic biography became an event of nearly “Mozartian” scale. This book is the first thorough biographical study of Gubánov, unfolding a broad panorama of cultural life in the 60s–70s. Among the people featured are Joseph Brodsky, Eduard Limonov, Sasha Sokolov, and other key figures of that unusually intense era.