Ekaterina Murashova’s novella “Correction Class” stands out sharply among the flow of contemporary Russian teen literature. The theme of children who are society’s rejects—often intellectually disabled, disabled, socially neglected—is too uncomfortable and ugly; it’s hard to decide to talk about it. But the author manages to write a life-loving, optimistic work where it seems that no optimism could exist.
Murashova doesn’t entertain the reader or pander to them. She invites the teenage reader to joint inner and moral work—helping through the heroes’ shared experience and empathy to recognize themselves as a person, an individual, and a citizen.