Alexander Ilyanen’s prose contains refinement, elitism, and even shockingness. Its very construction is already very refined: Iljanen’s diary fragmentation often turns into almost verse stanza... Iljanen also rejects the traditional stereotype of masculinity. Her hero is a sybarite and a contemplator, he is driven not by a thirst for victory and success, but by “natural curiosity about various phenomena, including people.” This turn is quite unexpected for Russian culture: until now, a man’s refusal to be active and victorious has been perceived in one way or another as an admission of defeat in life, especially when it comes to the personal, love sphere. And much of what may seem shocking or a kind of coquetry in Ilyanen’s works - from the hero’s constant admiration of his blue underpants to the touching description of a get-together of regulars at a public toilet (in the early story “The Aborigine and the Beautiful Toilet Girl”) - in fact stems from a complete gender emancipation: in some other respects, Ilyanen’s hero, of course, works for the public, but the traditional (it’s time to call it fundamentalist) concept of masculinity is organically alien to him...