This book by the famous critic Benedikt Sarnov brings together articles written in different years, but devoted to one topic - the history of the relationship between Soviet writers and the Soviet government. Hence the name. Zoshchenko once wrote: “If Pushkin lived in our time, we would carry him in our arms and give the poet a fabulous life.” This book is about talented writers and their “paradise” life in the Soviet Union. Among the heroes are Khodasevich, Mayakovsky, Korzhavin, Okudzhava... And on top of that, Pushkin himself. This book is about the fabulous life that many wonderful writers and poets were given in Soviet times. This book is not about Pushkin. And the name Pushkin appeared in its title because the author remembered the following remark from one of Mikhail Zoshchenko’s stories: “He was a brilliant and great poet.” And we have to regret that he does not live with us now. We would carry him in our arms and give the poet a fabulous life, if, of course, we knew that Pushkin would turn out from him. In our time,” the author says in this regard, “there lived writers and poets who are now also called great and brilliant. But during their lifetime, no one was in a hurry to carry them in their arms and give them a fabulous life. They were not published (Bulgakov), expelled from the country (Khodasevich), doomed to hunger and poverty (Zoshchenko), driven to certain death in Kolyma (Mandelshtam), or even simply killed (Babel). That's what this book is about.