Leave or Stay

This book isn’t quite ordinary. It consists of my novel “You Can’t Leave, You Can Stay” and of a “virtual” part, which is published on the Internet as a blog written by one of the characters of the novel.

A blog is a keyhole into the past, through which you can peek at well-hidden secrets. It helps private detective Alexei Kisanov restore the events of distant days—but not only that: it reveals the character of both the blogger himself and several of his former classmates.

The idea to write a novel that includes a virtual part was sparked in me by my love of a game with multiple realities—a passion I discovered back when I was working on my dissertation about “Eugene Onegin” (and other Pushkin works). And I couldn’t resist the chance to play it out. The world of fiction—fictional literature—echoes the world of the virtual in its imaginative essence, its possibilities for mystification. The temptation to bring these two worlds together in a single work was very great.

As a result, part of the novel becomes the virtual space where the blog is written by a character of the novel, while the comments are left by the most real visitors—who, thereby, involuntarily become part of the novel!

At the same time, this game allowed me to separate two worlds that are polar opposites in spirit and worldview, giving each its own form and its own space.

For the role of the character leading the virtual diary, I invited Oleg Khrustalev, a journalist from Nizhny Novgorod. He bravely took on the task of creating, in detailed form, an unflattering portrait of the blogger and telling an unflattering story from his point of view. Oleg played this role with great skill, for which I express him my gratitude!

The address of the blog is provided as the plot unfolds. For those who don’t have access to the Internet, a printout of the blog (without visitors’ comments) is included in an Appendix to the novel. (No peeking ahead of time!)

As in any blog “hanging” on the network, any visitor can leave comments there.