Ложится мгла на старые ступени

Roman "Lozhitsi͡a mgla na starye stupeni", priznannyĭ luchshim proizvedeniem 2000-kh godov (premii͡a "Russkiĭ Buker desi͡atiletii͡a", 2011), osnovan na semeĭnoĭ istorii avtora. Aleksandr Pavlovich Chudakov, odin iz krupneĭshikh russkikh filologov XX veka, vyros v intelligentnoĭ semʹe, voleĭ sudʹby zabroshennoĭ na kraĭ sveta - v Shchuchinsk, gorod ssylʹnykh na granit͡se Rossii i Kazakhstana. V surovye poslevoennye gody, v uslovii͡akh postoi͡annoĭ ugrozy novykh repressiĭ i otsutstvii͡a samogo neobkhodimogo semʹi͡a glavnogo geroi͡a sumela ne tolʹko vyzhitʹ: podobno novym Robinzonam, ėti li͡udi vosstanavlivai͡ut poteri͡annui͡u t͡sivilizat͡sii͡u. Nesmotri͡a ni na chto, oni sumeli ne ozlobitʹsi͡a i sokhranitʹ vernostʹ svoim istokam.

The novel "The Mist Falls on the old steps", recognized as the best work of the 2000s (the Russian Booker of the Decade Award, 2011), is based on the author's family history. Alexander Pavlovich Chudakov, one of the greatest Russian philologists of the XX century, grew up in an intelligent family, abandoned by fate to the end of the world — in Shchuchinsk, a city of exiles on the border of Russia and Kazakhstan. In the harsh post-war years, in the face of the constant threat of new repressions and the lack of the most necessary, the main character's family managed not only to survive: like the new Robinsons, these people are restoring a lost civilization. Despite everything, they managed not to get angry and remain faithful to their origins.