Footstep by Footstep

The novel by the remarkable modern prose writer Vladimir Sharov “Step by Step” is a family chronicle. In the fates of the heroes—who, in one way or another, are reshaping the main events of 20th-century Russian history—everything balances on the edge of reality, often crossing the line. What is real in the novel seems unthinkable and impossible, while phantasmagoria and farce hit with their believability. A dense, richly twisting plotline of the novel is paired with a classic storytelling style.

Vladimir Sharov also organically combines the realistic tradition, phantasmagoria, irony, grotesque, and much more in his prose.

Vladimir Sharov (1952–2018) is a writer and historian, author of the novels “Rehearsals,” “Return to Egypt,” “Old Girl,” “Be Like Children,” “Kingdom of Agamemnon,” “The Resurrection of Lazarus,” a laureate of the “Big Book” and “Russian Booker” awards.

In all of his novels—or rather, in his philosophical parables—family chronicle is inseparably connected with the history of the country, and Biblical motifs intertwine with the theme of the Revolution.

“Sharov is the avatar of Andrei Platonov; the same type of artist… But if Platonov is a real ‘child,’ then Sharov is spoiled by knowledge of history, as if seduced.”

Lev Danilkin, “Afisha”

“Those tangled skeins of history from which Sharov’s novels are woven give the texts almost Tolstoy-like scope.”

Oliver Ready, “The Times Literary Supplement”