“The pessimistic view of the current state of Russian fiction has, as is known, become very widespread. “Literary timelessness” is the subject of constant complaints heard both in society and in the press. “Literature is becoming impoverished” - this is a proposition that in most cases is recognized as an irrefutable truth, a truth that does not require any evidence. “Modern artists are as far from the writers of the “classical” past as the earth is from the sky,” these are the categorical statements that one hears at almost every step. But how fair are these categorical statements and complaints? ..."