We are building a star factory

Ilya Boyashev’s novel “Muri’s Way” was published in “National Bestsellers”

The seventh cycle of the National Bestseller Award almost perfectly matches the objectives of this extravagant fun. Already after the announcement of the shortlist, the founding father of “Natsbest”, our main causative agent of (nearly) literary storms (at least in a glass of water), Viktor Toporov, said that it couldn’t be better. Three well-promoted luminaries have reached the finish line - Dmitry Bykov with "ZhD", Vladimir Sorokin with "Day of the Oprichnik" and Lyudmila Ulitskaya with "Daniel Stein, Translator" - and three unknown chosen ones: Vadim Babenko with the thriller "Black Pelican", Lena Eltang with the poetic narrative “Escape of the Kumanika” and Ilya Boyashev, whose adventurous parable “The Path of Muri” ultimately won laurels.

An additional piquancy to the premium plot was given by a serious problem: would last year’s winner Dmitry Bykov, a member of the Small Jury, vote for his own novel? Of the two equally PR-intensive gestures, Bykov chose the intelligent one - he decided to reward himself with an award. Judges' voting - besides Bykov, these are director Vasily Barkhatov, editor of Sobaka.ru magazine Yana Miloradovskaya, TV presenter Anfisa Chekhova, journalist (more recently editor-in-chief of Profile magazine) Mikhail Leontyev and president of the St. Petersburg College of Chefs Ilya Lazerson -- no winner was revealed. Ulitskaya and Boyashev scored an equal number of points. According to the regulations of “Natsbest”, the fate of the prize in such cases is decided by the honorary chairman of the Small Jury. It was the chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Financial Markets and Monetary Circulation, Sergei Vasiliev, who “brought to light” Ilya Boyashev, a little-known history teacher at the Nakhimov School.

The hero of Boyashev's novel, the cat Muri, after the destruction of the Bosnian village where he spent his golden years, is forced to wander around Europe in search of lost but longed-for comfort. Along the way, as usual, he observes everyday customs, comes into contact with ordinary miracles and finds himself in risky adventures. Along with the literary descendant of Hoffmann's cat Murr, other - more or less exotic - Boyashev's characters, both people and animals, are doomed to travel. Upon inclusion of the book on the shortlist, the author was quickly dubbed the “Russian Kusturica” - I remember when “Natsbest” won the Garros-Evdokimov tandem, their laureate novel was compared to “The Matrix”. There were about the same reasons.

I’m not too sure that “Muri’s Way” will win over the audience (in the case of another “dark horse” - the highly florid “Escape of the Kumanika” - the chances of winning over the public are even less), but it served the cause of “Natsbest” very well. Of course, the “man from nowhere” has surpassed the usual favorites of the literary lists. (Ulitskaya’s chances in the “Big Book” ring, in my opinion, are close to one hundred percent. At Booker they are somewhat lower, but also serious. Bykov may be bypassed after last year’s string of victories, but at least there will be a reason to talk about secret conspiracies. As for Sorokin , then he has been out of competition for a long time. Therefore, analyzing his hackwork of recent years is almost pointless.) The conclusion is clear: “Natsbest” has taken an important step towards its cherished goal - gaining the status of a literary factory of stars. With which we congratulate all those interested in this result. And we don’t congratulate those who are not interested.

Andrey NEMZER