Pro Chulaki and “The Funeral Holiday” Posted by: listva, About two decades ago, Neva magazine published a new story by Mikhail Chulaki, “The Funeral Holiday.” Before that, I had already tasted Chulakin’s eternal bread, listened to the tenor, visited the Five Corners and the green Pryazhka. “Neva” revealed wonderful writers to the readers of that time, although I did not consider Mikhail Mikhailovich a master of words at all. And even a real writer. Average things, written in imperfect language, but somehow... honest. Because he wrote about what he knew; It seems to me that only talents and geniuses can put non-personal experience into polished, harmonious phrases. Chulaki is not a genius or talent. But something in his lyrics always caught me. However, I know this: sincerity and his own personality, shining through the lines. Plus life experience: a psychiatrist by training once trained lions:) Then everything was much worse: when he took up journalism and opportunistic literature in the spirit of the times (example: the disgusting “Borisogleb” and a couple more scribbles). Along the way, I was looking for God, as usual... I can still understand journalism - Chulaki was a man of civic position and tried to participate in the ups and downs of the troubled times of the damned 90s as best he could. And about the Borisoglebs, I think that this was not written by the author of “The Feast of Funerals” and “Eternal Bread,” but by some other person whom I don’t know and don’t want to know. There are many of them, and no one knows about them. Now, at a time of complete burning and total graphomania, Chulaki could shine in all sorts of tops and ratings, and I would sincerely feel sorry for him. So, "Funeral Festival". A story written by an imperfect pen about imperfect people. Ordinary. But why is it so catchy? I gave the magazine to many people: from teenagers to retirees. And no one remained indifferent. Nobody. When the magazine was worn out and lost, and I never bought the book, so I began to look for the text on the Internet, but it was not there and was not there, but suddenly I found Chulaka’s personal website, where there was no “Holiday...” either, only an obsessive Borisogleb and some other sloppy confusion, but the author’s email was revealed. That's what I wrote. So, they say, and so, Mikhail Mikhailovich, how to get the “Festival of Funerals”? He answered me a day later, a good letter from an intelligent person to the core, and said that he would definitely post on the website what I was asking for. And so it happened. We exchanged several more letters, between We developed some kind of good connection, I was lucky, he was so smart, unpretentious and well-mannered. He answered my questions, asked his own, and I couldn’t believe that it was his pen that scribbled the notorious Borisoglebs and other Kremlin cupids. And then he died. Got hit by a car... I still have his letters in my old mailbox. And on his abandoned, almost inaccessible and half-empty former homepage (I spent an hour looking for it, although the search engine is a great one, he has such talent) still lies half-covered with dust time "Festival of Funerals". I am proud that without me he would not have been there. Because you won’t find Chulaka’s books—the very early ones from the 80s—by daylight. But they are still looking for them, I saw them myself. I’m also looking, so far without success... An imperfect text about imperfect people. Me - and absolutely everyone to whom I recommended “Holiday...”, which turned it inside out. I don’t know how it will act on hearts, minds and souls now, in a time of extreme egocentrism, Ksyushsobchak, childfree, total consumption and the desire for any success at any cost, tartines with caviar and more delicious spectacles. But I don’t want to say at all that the time is bad, no, it’s just different.The text of the book was translated from the original language using an artificial intelligence program. For the most part, the translation of the text is of very high quality, but in some cases, due to the imperfection of the technology, there may be incorrect phrase translations in the text, as well as single words and expressions may not be translated.