The collection of essays by the famous St. Petersburg critic contains literary and film studies essays from the last 20 years. A unique chronicle of the cultural life of Russia and St. Petersburg, combined with witty excursions into the field of history. Observation, paradox, and irony are the trademark of a critic. Nabokov and Hitchcock, Radek, Pasternak and not only they are the heroes of his observations. Seven St. Petersburg points of Holm van Zaichik and his “Eurasian Symphony” (Nadezhda Ulanovskaya, Maya Ulanovskaya. The story of one family. Memoirs) (Mich. Shishkin. Venus hair) ( About the prose of B. Akunin (Alexander Tovbin. The Adventure of a Somnambulist. A Novel with Excesses) (S. Lurie. Broken Arshin) (Dm. Bykov. Pasternak. Biography) (Dm. Bykov. Ostromov, or The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) (Dm. Bykov. Bliss. Poems)(About the poems of Lev Losev)(About the poems of Sergei Stratanovsky)(Gennady Alekseev. Selected poems)(Boris Slutsky. Notes on the war)(Peter Gorelik. Service and friendship. An attempt at memories. St. Petersburg, Neva Magazine, 2003) (Rosa Epstein. Rose's Book) (Notes) Notes on the films of the Munich Film Festival 2009 (Quentin Tarantino. “Django Unchained”) (Kira Muratova. “Melody for a Organ Organ”)