The history of the 20th century, as it happens, is the history of Russian modernism. It staged a revolution, it produced a glorious avant-garde, it created a new type of personality. And it also showed by its example the dead end of this path, its incompatibility with life.

Russia has managed to play with the devil and betray him - no one has ever managed to do that. The question now is - what should it do with itself next?

Dmitry Bykov is a poet, writer and journalist. He gives lectures and writes book reviews.

Dmitry Bykov is a biographer of Vladimir Mayakovsky, Boris Pasternak and Bulat Okudzhava, and a teacher of Russian language and literature at school.

Dmitry Bykov is the author of dozens of books, collections of poems and articles, and the projects “Citizen Poet” and “Good Gentleman”.

Dmitry Bykov is a laureate of the National Bestseller, Bronze Snail, Big Book, Portal awards, and the A. and B. Strugatsky International Prize.

Dmitry Bykov has been teaching at Cornell University (USA) since 2021