"The efforts of Dolboebov from the Prosecutor General was next to the titans." Interview with Ivan Filippov, author of the banned book about zombie -apocalypse in Moscow

The Prosecutor General’s Office demanded that Ivan Filippov’s novel “Mouse”, whose action takes place in Moscow during a zombie apocalypse, was removed from the sale. In the book, among others, Patriarch Kirill and propagandist Margarita Simonyan are mentioned. In the literary text, the prosecutors found "a threat to a massive violation of public order and public security." The editor-in-chief of Mediazons Sergey Smirnov talked with Ivan Filippov about the possible reasons for the ban on the book, z-literature and the sudden success of the novel, which the author did not count on.

- When and how did you find out about this paper from the Prosecutor General?

- I learned about this from my publisher last night. He sent me a text that Boris Akunin’s bookstore received with a comment that Boris Akunin’s bookstore, of course, would not delete anything. Boris Akunin just wrote a separate post about this, for which many thanks to him. About me, about the "mouse" and about Roskomnadzor.

- How do you feel about the wording of the Prosecutor General? They write that the book contains “false messages about acts of terrorism or other inaccurate socially significant information”, as it were, “information materials aimed at destabilizing the socio-political situation in Russia”. How do you evaluate that you have literally all this in the art book, how did you stuff it all in the art book?

- The wording, of course, is completely crazy. And it is clear that the situation is not very funny, but I, of course, laughed at them. Because this, excuse me, is a book about a zombie apocalypse. There are no calls to either good or bad. She is all, from beginning to end, invented by me.

Yes, of course, with a zombie apocalypse, the things that the Prosecutor General’s Office are listed. Even, probably, credit and financial institutions do not work. But this is fixed, zombies do not exist. I understand that for the Prosecutor General’s Office, maybe this will be news, but nevertheless.

And seriously, you read the book and understand: there, with the proper desire and breadth of the interpretation of modern legislation, you can find a lot of things. The book is anti -war, I'm public. Why these extremely idiotic formulations are chosen, I will honestly tell you: I don’t know.

- What do you think in the end served as the final reason for the ban? Still, the book was sold for a long time, even after you were recognized as a foreign agent. But now the Prosecutor General itself has taken up, not some regional or district prosecutor. You have some versions, why right now?

- I think that the main reason is my channel “On the Western Front without Changes”, which, frankly, puts the Russian army in an extremely unpleasant light. It does this by quoting people who support the war, which, it seems to me, also does not add any joy to anyone. And in this channel I wrote several times about the “mouse” and gave links to “ozone”.

Before her complaints from the Zeetnikov, she was removed from the “ozone”, six circulations were sold. My publisher says that they were sold at a speed of 300 books per hour, which is a lot. And I think that, except for natural irritation, there is still, of course, a component of envy.

The zetniks themselves are very actively say that no one buys their books, no one wants to read, they need the help of the state, because otherwise nothing happens. And then some Filippov, who is a foreign agent who is anti-war, and his books are remarkably sold, leads this unpleasant channel to them. And in this unpleasant channel he says that the seventh circulation of his book is already sold very successfully. While a collection of stars Z -Poesia, even with advertising on “public services”, is not sold very well. I suspect that the “mouse” was sold in principle more than the entire Z -liter published from the beginning of the war.

-You do not call general numbers, as I understand it, because of the agreement with the publisher?

- Yes. I can only say that 300 books per hour on Ozone were sold.

- Do you think the denunciations were written to you to the Prosecutor General? How was it at all? Have you seen some public denunciations on your book and personally?

-Yes, yesterday a specific denunciation came out in the telegram channel “Clemes”. A post formulated precisely as a denunciation.

-That is, you think they still took place to the Prosecutor General? Again, we specify, but nevertheless I want to understand the logic.

-I am sure that someone was reaching. “Tsargrad” wrote about me, about the “mouse”. There is such a very small but very vile telegram channel “Cultural Front Z ”. They immediately sincerely hate me. They somehow published an investigation into my “criminal activity” in seven parts. I read it right with great interest. Z -channels "Mouse" really do not like.

- And how do they explain the popularity of the book? They themselves ask themselves the question, why is their Z -creativity unpopular, and your book is so well for sale?

- No, they do not ask such questions.

- That is, it just happened?

-Yes, yes. On the other hand, they are very complaining all the last week that they have a wrong people who do not support the war. There are so many texts about the cloak of the rear society, the inhabitants who do not help the front do not go to fight.

- Previously, this was the subject for jokes about liberal reforms that "the people are not the same." And now z -propagandists literally say about the "wrong people", is this their key thought?

- I probably will not say that this is a key thought. Just a key idea for them: there are not enough people at the front, in all in the world, transport, ammunition, and so on. But this is also one of the messages about the "not the same people."

“You were declared an agent.” Do you associate this with your channel, and including with a book, or all together?

- I can quote [the reason for inclusion in the register of the Ministry of Justice]: “I distributed inaccurate information aimed at the formation of a negative image of the Russian Federation, as well as the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. He opposed a special military operation in Ukraine. ” Well, yes, I did it all.

- Come on a little about the novel. You wrote it, it seems to me, in a different reality. Also, Alexei Navalny was alive. The book ends very positively, this is a small spoiler. And in the beginning, this book was some kind of acute reaction from the authorities? Or did they prefer not to notice her, thinking that she would pass by?

- Nobody noticed her from power, no one noticed at all. She was noticed by readers, she was well sold all the time. And in the formal sense of the word, she became a bestseller before she appeared on the “ozone”. There were no [reactions] from the authorities and even from the side of the Zeetniks, there was something rare.

-That is, this campaign is still due to the fact that the book appeared on sale on Ozone and was well sold there? By and large, it turned out that they looked at popularity and decided to be indignant?

- I think yes, because there are no other explanations.

-Did you accidentally have any reviews from potential heroes of the book? Still, there you have Margarita Simonyan among the heroes, and her fate is unenviable. Did you come across anything like that? Maybe this is literally some kind of personal resentment or revenge?

- I have not heard about it yet. And I have the feeling that those heroes that you mentioned did not read the book. They did not even read the description, they do not know anything of this. They are still in the stratosphere. And we are talking about those who are at the lowest stage of Z -pyramids.

- The book is prohibited. What are the plans further? Firstly, it is still sold, I understand correctly, in one of the stores?

- Yes. It is sold in the Echo store. Secondly, my publisher already wrote a post in which he said that there was some incredible surge in sales associated with the ban. This quote , this is George Urushadze on his Facebook, wrote: “We don’t know what kind of Freedom Letters publishing house, but he has an advertising agent - the Prosecutor General himself. You have no idea what kind of sales of "mouse" we have. And so she flew away at an incredible speed of 300 copies per hour. And after the requirements of Mr. Prosecutor General ... ” The book was sold and sold in Russian stores abroad.

- For those abroad, this is a great way to once again demonstrate an attitude towards state policy and buy a book, for example.

- I will be very grateful. It is on Amazon , it is on the publishing house, it is in a huge number of bookstores. For example, in Tbilisi it has already ended everywhere except one book, in which there are four copies.

“You yourself expected everything that would work out like that?”

- Listen, I'm a man with an impostor syndrome. I always doubt everything. I was absolutely sure that [Roman] would go unnoticed. Moreover, this is the second book. The second book, just as the second film, is always a special kind of test. The first was good, successful, but, as if, even nearby, I did not lie with what the "mouse" became. And this was not just a surprise for me, it was an absolute shock for me. I understand that there are writers, probably, directors who are waiting for their work to become a hit. But to myself, I would never say this in my life. I only doubted and worried. These were my two main feelings.

- By and large, your novel, he literally goes down in history and continues such a tradition of the struggle of the Russian authorities with literature. XIX century, XX century, in the XXI century, you literally pick up this banner. What feelings do you have?

-Shock, confusion, the feeling that someone had confused something. Because where are I, where is Russian literature, the history of Russian literature? Perhaps so. I am flattered by the fact that I am not my own, probably, by advantages and works, but by the efforts of Dolboebobs from the Prosecutor General’s Office I was next to the titans. I am very pleased, flattering and important to me. Although, of course, this is not a merit.

Editor: Dmitry Treshchin