Stories and essays by Gennady Aleksandrovich Barabtarlo (1949–2019), philologist, poet, translator and researcher of V.V. Nabokov cannot help but surprise. The literary and philosophical images they brought to life cover a huge period of time from St. Augustine to Pushkin and from Plotinus to Shestov, and the fresh, precise, refined language reminds the reader of the highest literary examples. This is the prose of an artist who devoted his entire life to the study of literature, and until the end of his days not only preserved the taste of his native speech, but also multiplied its gifts.