Alexander Skidan's new book contains articles written over the past ten years. The first section is devoted to poetry and poets (ranging from Alexander Vvedensky to Paul Celan, from Elena Schwartz to Elena Fanailova), the second to prose, the third to constellations of literature, visual art and theory. All works are centered around the complex interweaving - and redefinition - of the ethical, aesthetic and political in modern writing. Alexander Skidan (Leningrad, 1965) - poet, critic, translator. Author of four books of poetry and two collections of essays, Critical Mass (1995) and The Resistance of Poetry (2001). Translated modern American poetry and prose, theoretical works of Paul de Man, J. Hillis Miller, Jean-Luc Nancy, Paolo Virno, Gerald Raunig. Laureate of the Turgenev Short Prose Festival (1998), the Bridge Prize for the best article on poetry (2006), and the Andrei Bely Prize in the Poetry category (2006). Lives in St. Petersburg.