About the book: 2016 / The book by Kyiv literary critic and publicist Efim Goffman presents articles written in different years. The articles in the collection cover a fairly wide range of topics: Russian literature of the second half of the 20th century; creativity of modern authors; dissident ideological polemics of the 70-80s; burning problems of modern social life in Russia and Ukraine. Three figures who occupy a special place in the collection are Andrei Sinyavsky, Varlam Shalamov, Yuri Trifonov. For the author of the book, their creativity and destinies are not just an object of research, but also the subject of serious and informal long-term comprehension, which has become an integral part of life. And also - a starting point in understanding the significant historical transformations that appeared back in the 70-80s, developed in post-Soviet times and had a decisive and complex impact on the fate of the intelligentsia.