First time in Russian—an entirely new work by the celebrated Julian Barnes, Booker Prize winner, one of the brightest and most original prose stylists of modern Britain, author of international bestsellers like “England, England,” “Flaubert’s Parrot,” “Love, etcetera,” “The Sense of an Ending,” and many others. This time, “unquestionably the most elegant stylist and the most unpredictable master of all conceivable literary forms” turns to the life of Dmitry Shostakovich—during the anniversary year: in September 2016, the whole world will mark 110 years since the birth of the great Russian composer.
However, writing a fictionalized biography concerns Barnes far less than aiming much higher: having, as an artist, a license for any fantasies, being in love with Russian literature and perfectly aware of the context, he builds his structure on the shaky ground of Soviet history—full of omissions and half-truths…