In the novel “Fortress” by the famous Russian writer and philosopher, Vladimir Kantor, life is depicted in its tragic reality. Therefore, any human action here is verified by the highest responsibility - the responsibility of fate. “A short fragment of a family - two or three links,” as Blok wrote, allows us to understand the movement of time. “If there were living literary criticism in our country and public opinion was naturally and freely expressed, this novel would cause a storm of both blasphemy and praise. ... With cruel mercilessness, permissible only to art, the author of the novel peers into a person - in his intimate, base and high actions and experiences. But in general, the main themes are simple and creepy: love, violence, death,” this is how the Sabashnikov publishing house announced this novel in 1992. Thus, “The Fortress” (as critics wrote) became in the public’s perception primarily a “document of the era,” and her artistic beginnings inevitably faded into the background. By bringing to the reader’s attention a new edition of “Fortress” in the author’s complete version, our publishing house is confident that the novel will be read by people who have retained a taste for high tragic-philosophical prose.