Gods and the Surplus: A Non-Heroic Epic

A novel that begins as a sharp social satire, and ends as an absolute fantasmagoria embracing both the past and the future of humanity. From the very first pages of the novel, Oleg Radzinsky introduces one of its main themes: the theme of an error in the fabric of reality—or, if you will, in our understanding of that very reality. Thus, the main character, Alan Ashotovich Arzumanyan, is in no way Armenian; his surname and patronymic come from his stepfather, and his name was originally supposed to sound like Alen: his mother, like most women of the USSR, was in love with Alain Delon, but the registry-office clerk mixed up the letters. The company “New Reality,” where the protagonist works as a screenwriter, is also the result of an error: it was registered as “New Reality,” but during bureaucratic approvals the soft sign was lost. Mistakes, falsifications, and deliberate distortions of reality are the bread and butter of the protagonist, a successful creator of reality TV shows. Only this time, the situation will finally slip completely out of control. A mysterious order from domestic oligarchs will turn into the collapse of the familiar world, and the full-bodied, bitter satire will transform into a philosophical parable about what reality is and what our place in it is.