Legends of the Arbat (BOOK)

Towards S. S. S. S.

The book opens with the novel “The scout's feat”, which tells how Konon Young met twice in his life with Colonel Rudolf Abel : once during the war, the second in London Regent’s Park . In the legend, the “Pentateuch” is about the surrender by the architect Posokhin of the complex of buildings on Kalininsky Avenue . The story "At the Theater" is a collection of theater tales, one of the heroines of which is actress Nina Urgant .

Towards Art

The heroes of the “Romance of Lovers” are Sergey Mikhalkov and his son Nikita , who graduated from VGIK and received an invitation to the military registration and enlistment office. At the heart of "Gulliver" - the story of how Zurab Tsereteli became an adherent of large sculptural compositions. The myth of Vladimir Pozner , who acted as a translator at the Tashkent film festival, is called “Mongolian cinema”. The story "The Joker of the Soviet Union" is dedicated to Nikita Bogoslovsky and his drawings.

Towards the Kremlin

The story "Fishing" involved Yeltsin and Hashimoto , for whom in Siberia was organized fishing sent from the Stavropol economy perch, carp and sterlet. In the “Birthday of Gaidar ” and in the Governor’s “MiG”, the action also takes place in the 1990s. The heroes of the Darwin Prize are the American aeronaut and the Soviet radio amateur.

In their direction

"Mon Generale" is a legend about a modest lawyer Simon Levin, who discovered his uncle in Paris, a friend of General de Gaulle . The Bike named after Nakhimov tells about how the Russian Jewish Congress decided to take patronage over the Nakhimov school. The plot of the “Literary Project” is associated with a dinner in the Central House of Writers , where an unknown young man, Rasul Gamzatov , once happened to visit . The story "Police Protocol" describes the fate of fifty pigs who traveled in a sealed train from Moscow to St. Petersburg.

Critics have perceived the Legend of the Arbat differently. Journalist Pavel Surkov appreciated Weller’s ability to handle text, as well as the accuracy and clarity of each phrase ^[2] . The correspondent of Itogi magazine, Yevgeny Belzhelarsky, defining the genre of the book as a collection of socio-political novels, clarified that some of them still belong “to the times of Ochakov ” ^[3] .

Philologist Zoya Potapova in a large article highlighted the role of the narrator, who “is free to present us the story from this angle, which reveals the characters, events, conditions of the era most favorably” ^[4] . The reviewer of Komsomolskaya Pravda , Andrei Dyatlov, noted that the Moscow legends of Weller turned out to be too stretched, while any “bike is just the ultimate thing” ^[5] . Petersburg writer Vladimir Kavtorin acknowledged that this seemingly funny book is in fact very serious: “She opens up the world in a new way before us” ^[6] .

A certain disappointment was experienced by the literary critic of the Children of the Ra edition Elena Safronova after meeting the “Legends of Arbat”. In her opinion, the texts in the blocks are arranged very roughly, and some of the short stories (“Fishing”, “Gaidar's Birthday”) fade before the stories from the collection “Legends of Nevsky Prospect”. In addition, some of the tales are already widely known, and in these newly told stories "humor looks strained" ^[7] .

According to Michael Weller, after the book was published, Vladimir Pozner called him and stated “some disagreement” with the plot of the story “Mongolian cinema” ^[8] . Later, during an online conference, Posner, answering a question about this bike, said that he had never been to Tashkent, and his brother went to the said festival ^[9] .

In an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda, Nikita Mikhalkov called the episode slander about how his father tried to save him from the army ^[10] .

Mikhail Veller himself, in an interview with Novaya Gazeta correspondent, did not deny that many stories were invented by him from beginning to end, including the myth of Zurab Tsereteli ^[11] . During the conference with the readers of “ Arguments and Facts ”, the writer gave advice to those who doubt the credibility of his legends: “Do not believe it - take it for a fairy tale” ^[12] .

I remain with the difficult dilemma that the author sometimes faces a choice: either to keep his conscience, his corporate conscience and reputation, or to write a good and interesting book. Everyone decides for himself, and each carries his own cross.

- Michael Weller - about the Legends of Arbat ^[8]

M. Weller. Legends of the Arbat. - M .: AST, 2009. - 320 p. - 100 000 copies - ISBN 978-5-17-062228-3 .