The history of the twentieth century with its “everyday life in extreme conditions” comes to life on the pages of memoirs, essays, and diary entries of Lydia Ginzburg. From the pages of the book sound the voices of the author’s teachers and friends and at the same time world-famous and beloved by readers poets, writers, literary critics: A. Akhmatova, O. Mandelstam, V. Mayakovsky, N. Gumilyov, N. Zabolotsky, B. Eikhenbaum, Yu. Tynyanov, V. Shklovsky and many others. Lydia Ginzburg's confessional prose honestly and vividly describes the events, atmosphere and realities of the era, helps to feel its rhythm. “Modern art,” writes the author, “apparently should talk about happiness and beauty. Because happiness and beauty are our real experience, and only this experience gives suffering a price and a dialectical meaning to denial... Self-gnawing misfortune will never light up with tragic fire,” writes Lydia Ginzburg. The collection of works by an outstanding philologist and brilliant writer includes both previously published works - “The Man at the Desk”, “The Translation of Experience”, and less known to readers, published only once, extensive fragments from notebooks.