The Institute of Dreams: Stargorod Twenty Years Later

Aleshkovsky’s plots are “werewolf” plots—timeless human stories retold in the language of the present day. If you want, you can track down all the literary and mythological sources—both those lying on the surface and those cleverly hidden by the author. But when you encounter cases that aren’t invented, drawn straight from life—real historical facts—old narrative patterns transform and come alive. Outwardly, it’s a collection of entertaining stories, modern fairy tales that today’s reader loves so much. Yet quite quickly, a “second plan” becomes visible in the book—the very reason everything was conceived in the first place.