The “fifth dimension” is the unity of texts written at different times, in different places and on different occasions (round dates or the publication of a rare book, an interview or discussion), and often without any visible, external reason. Events and persons, the author and the reader are closed in a single space - memory, even when talking about contemporaries. “Literature turned out to be knowledge more ancient than science,” says Andrei Bitov. Andrei Bitov’s requirements for essay writing are the same as for artistic prose (from “The Silence of the Word” (1971) to “The Muse of Prose” (2013)).