Mikhail Iosifovich. Mikhail Weller, biography, news, photos. Russian writer, member of the Russian PEN Center, laureate of a number of literary awards

Now Mikhail Weller is a famous participant in television debates. Sometimes he is not even able to restrain his emotions. But still, he is primarily considered a fashionable and iconic writer. His works are published in enormous quantities. At the same time, he writes serious books. In his youth, he experienced a passionate thirst for adventure. Actually, this is how he actually remained... The biography of M.I. Weller will be told to the reader in the article.

The writer's ancestor served Frederick the Great

The biography of Mikhail Weller (we will discuss his nationality later) began in the late spring of 1948 in the city of Kamenets-Podolsky, in Western Ukraine. He grew up in a Jewish family of doctors. Initially, the writer’s father lived in St. Petersburg and knew that one of his ancestors fought under the banner of Frederick the Great. After school, my father entered the Military Medical Academy and, having received a diploma, became a military doctor. As a result, he had to move from place to place and change garrisons.

The mother of the future prose writer was born in Western Ukraine, where her family lived at that time. Her grandfather was also a doctor. Mother followed in the footsteps of her grandfather, and she graduated from the medical institute in Chernivtsi.

Such facts are provided by the biography of Mikhail Weller. The nationality of this person provokes many disputes. Many are sure that he is Jewish. But those who studied the biography of Mikhail Weller in more detail ascribed to him a completely different nationality - Russian. It is quite difficult to answer this question unequivocally.

First poetic experience

Little Misha was only two years old when his father was transferred to the Trans-Baikal Territory. Of course, the family left with him. By and large, Mikhail changed more than one school because of his dad’s service. He wandered with his parents to the garrisons of Siberia and the Far East.

He grew up as a normal Soviet boy. The first work he read on his own was Gaidar’s “Malchish-Kibalchish.” Then came the turn of Jules Verne and Herbert Wells. And a little later he began to read books by Jack London.

When Misha was in fifth grade, he realized that he wanted to write. During the winter holidays, the literature teacher assigned an assignment - to compose a poem about winter. According to Weller's recollections, he wrote an extremely bad poetic opus. But, as it turned out, the creations of my classmates turned out to be even worse. As a result, young Misha’s work was recognized as the best. According to him, this event inspired him to new creative experiences.

In high school, the Weller family moved to Mogilev, in Belarus. It was then that he consciously realized that he really wanted to create.

He graduated from school with a gold medal in 1964 and entered the philological department of the university in Leningrad.

Within the walls of the university

Arriving in Leningrad, young Weller began living with his grandfather’s family. He was a biologist and headed a department at one of the institutes.

At the university, Mikhail immediately became involved in student life. Weller had extraordinary abilities and outstanding organizational skills. In any case, he became not only a Komsomol organizer, but also the secretary of the Komsomol bureau of the entire university.

True, he was able to study at the university for quite a short time. According to him, he was interested in life in all its manifestations. As a result, student Weller abandoned his studies and went in pursuit of adventure.

Thirst for adventure

Life has never been boring and monotonous. In 1969, he bet that he would get to Kamchatka as a “hare”. Of course, penniless. He crossed the entire country and thus the bet was won.

The following year, he decided to officially take a sabbatical leave. Having done this, he went to Central Asia, where he wandered there until the fall.

After this, the young traveler moved to Kaliningrad. It was here that he managed to complete the sailor courses as an external student. As a result, he set off on his first sea voyage on a fishing boat.

The future writer wandered around the Soviet Union and gained new impressions. Therefore, in 1971 he was reinstated at the Faculty of Philology. By the way, during these times his story was published in the university wall newspaper.

At the same time, he worked as a senior pioneer leader in one of the St. Petersburg schools.

Soon Weller was able to successfully defend his thesis and, having become a professional philologist, set off for new adventures.

Finding yourself

After college, Weller had to join the army. True, he served only six months. Then he was commissioned.

In civilian life, he began working in one of the rural schools. He taught students literature and the Russian language. In addition, he was a teacher. He worked in the village for one year, after which he decided to quit.

In general, throughout his life he changed about 30 professions. So, he was a concrete worker in the northern capital. In the summer, he came to the Tersky coast of the White Sea and the Kola Peninsula, where he worked as a digger. In Mongolia he drove cattle. By the way, according to his recollections, this was the best period in his life.

Beginning of a writer's career

When Weller returned to Leningrad, he intended to completely switch to literary activity. As mentioned above, he published his first story in the university wall newspaper. And from then on, a pencil and a notepad became his constant companions.

However, his early works were rejected by all editors.

At the same time, Weller participated in a seminar for young St. Petersburg science fiction writers. They were led by the brilliant Mikhail, who wrote a story called “The Button.” And this opus received first prize at this competition.

Unfortunately, Leningrad publishing houses did not pay any attention to this victory of the young writer and continued to ignore him. Essentially, he was deprived of his livelihood. And need prompted him to again engage in other activities. So, he processed war memoirs at one of the publishing houses. He also began writing reviews for the famous magazine "Neva".

In 1978, Weller managed to publish his short humorous stories on the pages of Leningrad newspapers. But this situation did not suit him at all...

In Tallinn

Weller decided to give up everything - he left the city, his friends, his beloved woman, his family. In fact, he lived in poverty, and apart from writing, he did nothing. He ended up in Tallinn. There was only one reason for this decision - he wanted to publish his book.

In 1979, he got a job in one of the republican publications. A year later, he left the ranks of newspapermen in order to join the “trade union group” at the Estonian Writers' Union. It was then that he published publications in such magazines as “Tallinn”, “Ural” and “Literary Armenia”. And in 1981, he wrote a story called “Reference Line.” In this work he managed for the first time to formalize the foundations of his philosophy. However, we will return to this a little later.

First success

In 1983, the creative biography of the writer Mikhail Weller began. The book “I Want to Be a Janitor” was his first of a large collection available today. It was a collection of stories. The publication became popular. The rights to this book were even sold to a Western publishing house. As a result, a year later Weller's collection was translated into several languages. In addition, a number of individual stories by the writer were published in countries such as France, Poland, Bulgaria, Italy and Holland.

By this time, B. Strugatsky and B. Okudzhava gave him their recommendations so that he could join the Writers' Union of the Soviet Union. Despite flattering assessments of Weller's work, he was not accepted into the organization. He became a member of the Union five years later. The immediate reason was the release of the writer’s second book. It was called "All about life."

After this, Weller’s career as a prose writer began to gain momentum with enviable activity.

Triumph

Two years later, the work “Rendezvous with a Celebrity” was published. And a feature film was even made based on the work “But Those Shish”. During this period, he founded the first Jewish cultural magazine in the Soviet Union, Jericho. Of course, he became editor-in-chief.

Two years later, a book of short stories appeared. It was called “Legends of Nevsky Prospekt”. The book is still in unprecedented demand.

In the mid-90s, a new work appeared. We are talking about the novel “Samovar”. A couple of years later, the writer took a trip to the United States. He spoke to readers in New York, Boston, Cleveland and Chicago.

And in 1998, a large work “Everything about Life” was published. It was there that Weller discussed his theory of “energy evolutionism.”

Weller's philosophical theory

By and large, the writer’s philosophical views were set forth in a number of his works. But only over time was he able to generalize his postulates into a single theory, which he called “energy-evolutionism.”

He drew on the work of many philosophers. But first of all, on the works of A. Schopenhauer, W. Ostwald and L. White.

Not everyone accepted this turn in Weller’s creative evolution. One of the famous philosophers criticized him for amateurism in the field of philosophy. He characterized his theory as "a mixture of platitudes." Others believed that this work was, in fact, a storehouse of original thoughts and an anthology of worldly wisdom.

Nevertheless, over the years, Weller successfully lectured, setting out the foundations of his energy evolutionism. Thus, students listened to him with pleasure at Moscow State University, MGIMO and the University of Jerusalem.

And in the Greek capital, he generally gave a corresponding report. This happened at the International Philosophical Forum. It was then that his work was awarded a prestigious medal.

Politician

Since 2011, the writer Mikhail Weller, whose work was loved by many, began to take a serious interest in politics. So, at one time he called for voting for the Communist Party. He was sure that the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is the only association in the country that is independent of the oligarchs. Note that he repeatedly had to defend his point of view. They took part in a number of television debates and political talk shows. True, sometimes, due to the emotionality of the prose writer and philosopher, these shootings ended in scandals. So, in the early spring of 2017, on the TVC channel, he was outraged by accusations of lying against him. Then he threw his glass at the presenter. A similar incident occurred a month later. On this day, Weller was at the Ekho Moskvy radio station. He explained his behavior. According to him, the presenter behaved extremely unprofessionally and constantly interrupted him.

The era of the new millennium

In the 2000s, Weller parted ways with Tallinn and moved to the Russian capital.

In the winter of 2008, the Estonian authorities awarded him the Order of the White Star.

A little later, new books appeared on bookstore shelves. These were “Legends of Arbat” and “Love and Passion”.

In total, Weller wrote almost 50 literary works. Some of them have been translated into many languages ​​of the world.

According to the author, his main income is literature. It continues to be republished, and he lives on royalties. He believes that it is not necessary to write a lot. But what is written must be at an excellent level.

As for his personal life, Mikhail Weller’s biography is not replete with numerous facts. The writer does not like to dwell on this topic. It is known that he got married in 1986. His chosen one was a graduate of the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University, Anna Agriomati. A year later, the newlyweds had a daughter, Valya...

Birthday May 20, 1948

Russian writer, member of the Russian PEN Center, laureate of a number of literary awards

Biography

Mikhail Iosifovich Weller was born into a Jewish family on May 20, 1948 in the city of Kamenets-Podolsk in the family of an officer.

Studies

Until he turned sixteen, Mikhail constantly changed schools - moving to garrisons in the Far East and Siberia.

In 1966 he graduated from school in Mogilev with a gold medal and entered the department of Russian philology of the Faculty of Philology of Leningrad University. Becomes a Komsomol course organizer and secretary of the university Komsomol bureau. In the summer of 1969, on a bet, without money, he travels from Leningrad to Kamchatka in a month, using all types of transport, and fraudulently obtains a pass to enter the “border zone.” In 1970 he received academic leave from the university. In the spring he leaves for Central Asia, where he wanders until the fall. In the fall he moves to Kaliningrad and takes the accelerated second-class sailor course as an external student. Goes on a voyage on a fishing fleet trawler. In 1971 he was reinstated at the university and worked as a senior pioneer leader at school. His story was published for the first time in the university wall newspaper. In 1972 he defended his thesis on the topic “Types of composition of modern Russian Soviet short stories.”

Job

In 1972-1973, he worked on assignment in the Leningrad region as a teacher of an extended-day elementary school group and as a teacher of Russian language and literature in a rural eight-year school. Dismissed at his own request.

Gets a job as a concrete worker at the ZhBK-4 prefabricated structures workshop in Leningrad. In the summer of 1973, as a forest feller and digger, he traveled with a brigade of “shabashniks” to the Kola Peninsula and the Tersky coast of the White Sea.

In 1974, he worked at the State Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism (Kazan Cathedral) as a junior researcher, tour guide, carpenter, supplier and deputy director for administrative and economic affairs.

In 1975 - correspondent of the factory newspaper of the Leningrad shoe association "Skorokhod" "Skorokhodovsky worker", acting. O. Head of the Culture Department, and O. Head of the Information Department. The first publications of stories in the “official press”.

From May to October 1976 - a driver of imported cattle from Mongolia to Biysk along the Altai Mountains. According to mentions in the texts, I remembered this time as the best in my life.

Since 2006, he has been hosting a weekly program on Radio Russia “Let’s Talk” with Mikhail Weller.

Creation

Returning to Leningrad in the fall of 1976, he switched to literary work; his first stories were rejected by all editors.

In the fall of 1977, he entered the seminar of young Leningrad science fiction writers under the leadership of Boris Strugatsky.

In 1978, the first publications of short humorous stories appeared in Leningrad newspapers. He works part-time as a literary edit of war memoirs at the Lenizdat publishing house and writing reviews for the Neva magazine.

In the fall of 1979, he moved to Tallinn (Estonian SSR) and got a job at the republican newspaper “Youth of Estonia.” In 1980, he resigned from the newspaper and joined the “trade union group” at the Estonian Writers' Union. The first publications appeared in the magazines “Tallinn”, “Literary Armenia”, “Ural”. From summer to autumn he travels on a cargo ship from Leningrad to Baku, publishing reports from the journey in the newspaper Vodny Transport.

In 1981, he wrote the story “Line of Reference,” where he for the first time formalized the foundations of his philosophy.

From 1972 to 1973 he worked as a teacher of an extended day group at a primary school, and as a teacher of Russian language and literature in a rural eight-year school.

In 1974, he was a junior researcher, tour guide, carpenter, supplier and deputy director for administrative and economic affairs of the State Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism (Kazan Cathedral).

In 2010, the sociological treatise “Man in the System” was published, and in 2011, the collection “Mishaherazade” was published.

In the same year, a series was filmed based on Mikhail Weller's story "The Ballad of the Bomber".

In December 2011, the writer performed on the small stage of the School of Modern Play theater in a one-man show of his own production based on his book “Everything about Life.”

In 2016, Weller’s book “On the Eve of Unknown What” was presented.

In April 2018, his book of reflection on Russian and world literature “Fire and Agony” was published.

The total circulation of all Weller's books exceeds one million copies.

Mikhail Weller is a member of the Russian PEN Center, the International Big History Association and the Russian Philosophical Society.

The writer is married to journalist Anna Agriomati, they have a daughter, Valentina.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Childhood and adolescence

This did not prevent the talented boy from graduating from school with a gold medal and entering the philological faculty of Leningrad University. But, despite his extraordinary abilities and outstanding organizational skills (he was a Komsomol organizer of the course, secretary of the university bureau), Mikhail did not study at a prestigious university for long. He was so interested in life in all its multifaceted manifestations that he soon abandoned his studies and went traveling.

First, on a bet, the young man, penniless, traveled as a “hare” from Leningrad to Kamchatka, and a year later, having taken an academic leave, he left for Central Asia. After this, Weller moved to Kaliningrad, where, having completed an external course for sailors, he went to sea on a fishing boat.

Having wandered around the country and gained impressions, in 1971 Mikhail returned to the university and a year later successfully defended his diploma. After graduating from high school, the young man served two years in the army and upon his return was assigned as a Russian language teacher to a rural school, where he also stayed for only a year.

"Duel": Weller VS Khakamada

During his life, Weller, by his own admission, had about thirty different types of activities: felled wood in Komi, worked as a hunter-procurer in the Arctic, drove cattle in Mongolia, worked as a teacher, pioneer leader and kindergarten teacher, and mastered many construction specialties.

Writer's career

He tried to begin his literary activity in Leningrad, but his works did not find understanding and were rejected by all editors. Weller had to limit himself to publishing short humorous stories and writing reviews for the Neva magazine.

But the aspiring writer was not satisfied with this state of affairs, and two years later, having given up everything, he left for Tallinn and began exclusively writing books. In 1983, his first collection of stories, “I Want to Be a Janitor,” was published, which was published in several Western European countries, including France and Italy.

From that moment on, Weller's writing career began to actively gain momentum, and now he is the author of more than fifty literary works, translated into many languages ​​of the world. The writer's track record includes many philosophical works devoted to the place and role of man on the scale of the Universe. You can read in detail about his views on the universe in the book “The Meaning of Life,” on the pages of which he outlined his theory of “Energy Evolutionism.”

Excerpts from Weller’s book “All About Life”

By 2017, his bibliography included 10 novels: the controversial “The Adventures of Major Zvyagin”, “Samovar”, “All about Life”, “Cassandra”, “The General Theory of Everything”, “Perpendicular and others; 13 stories (6 of them were published in a separate collection “Cruel”), and several dozen short stories published in 18 collections.

Political Views

A similar incident occurred a month later on the radio program “Special Opinion” (“Echo of Moscow”). Mikhail Weller shouted at presenter Olga Bychkova, tore the microphone, threw a mug of water and left the studio, and later announced that he was breaking off his cooperation with the radio station that had lasted since 1993. He explained his behavior by saying that the presenter behaved unprofessionally and constantly interrupted him.

Mikhail Iosifovich Weller was born into a Jewish family on May 20, 1948 in the city of Kamenets-Podolsk in the family of an officer.

Studies

Until he turned sixteen, Mikhail constantly changed schools - moving to garrisons in the Far East and Siberia.

In 1966 he graduated from school in Mogilev with a gold medal and entered the department of Russian philology of the Faculty of Philology of Leningrad University. Becomes a Komsomol course organizer and secretary of the university Komsomol bureau. In the summer of 1969, on a bet, without money, he travels from Leningrad to Kamchatka in a month, using all types of transport, and fraudulently obtains a pass to enter the “border zone.” In 1970 he received academic leave from the university. In the spring he leaves for Central Asia, where he wanders until the fall. In the fall he moves to Kaliningrad and takes the accelerated second-class sailor course as an external student. Goes on a voyage on a fishing fleet trawler. In 1971 he was reinstated at the university and worked as a senior pioneer leader at school. His story was published for the first time in the university wall newspaper. In 1972 he defended his thesis on the topic “Types of composition of modern Russian Soviet short stories.”

Job

In 1972-1973, he worked on assignment in the Leningrad region as a teacher of an extended-day elementary school group and as a teacher of Russian language and literature in a rural eight-year school. Dismissed at his own request.

Gets a job as a concrete worker at the ZhBK-4 prefabricated structures workshop in Leningrad. In the summer of 1973, as a forest feller and digger, he traveled with a brigade of “shabashniks” to the Kola Peninsula and the Tersky coast of the White Sea.

In 1974, he worked at the State Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism (Kazan Cathedral) as a junior researcher, tour guide, carpenter, supplier and deputy director for administrative and economic affairs.

In 1975 - correspondent of the factory newspaper of the Leningrad shoe association "Skorokhod" "Skorokhodovsky worker", acting. O. Head of the Culture Department, and O. Head of the Information Department. The first publications of stories in the “official press”.

From May to October 1976 - a driver of imported cattle from Mongolia to Biysk along the Altai Mountains. According to mentions in the texts, I remembered this time as the best in my life.

Since 2006, he has been hosting a weekly program on Radio Russia “Let’s Talk” with Mikhail Weller.

Creation

Returning to Leningrad in the fall of 1976, he switched to literary work; his first stories were rejected by all editors.

In the fall of 1977, he entered the seminar of young Leningrad science fiction writers under the leadership of Boris Strugatsky.

In 1978, the first publications of short humorous stories appeared in Leningrad newspapers. He works part-time as a literary edit of war memoirs at the Lenizdat publishing house and writing reviews for the Neva magazine.

In the fall of 1979, he moved to Tallinn (Estonian SSR) and got a job at the republican newspaper “Youth of Estonia.” In 1980, he resigned from the newspaper and joined the “trade union group” at the Estonian Writers' Union. The first publications appeared in the magazines “Tallinn”, “Literary Armenia”, “Ural”. From summer to autumn, he travels on a cargo ship from Leningrad to Baku, publishing reports from the journey in the newspaper “Water Transport”.

In 1981, he wrote the story “Line of Reference,” where he for the first time formalized the foundations of his philosophy.

In 1982, he worked as a commercial hunter at the Taimyrsky state industrial enterprise in the lower reaches of the Pyasina River.

In 1983, the first collection of stories “I Want to Be a Janitor” was published, and the rights to the book were sold abroad at the Moscow International Book Fair. In 1984, the book was translated into Estonian, Armenian, and Buryat languages; individual stories were published in France, Italy, Holland, Bulgaria, and Poland.

In the summer of 1985 he worked on an archaeological expedition in Olbia and on the island of Berezan, in the fall and winter he worked as a roofer.

In 1988, the Aurora magazine published the story “Testers of Happiness,” outlining the foundations of his philosophy. The second book of short stories, “Heartbreaker,” is published. Admission to the USSR Writers' Union takes place. Works as head of the Russian literature department of the Tallinn Russian-language magazine “Rainbow”.

In 1989, the book “The Technology of Story” was published.

In 1990, the book “Rendezvous with a Celebrity” was published. The story “Narrow Gauge Railway” is published in the magazine “Neva”, the story “I want to go to Paris” - in the magazine “Zvezda”, the story “Entombment” - in the magazine “Ogonyok”. Based on the story “But those shish”, a feature film was produced at the Mosfilm studio “Debut”. Founder and editor-in-chief of the first Jewish cultural magazine in the USSR, Jericho. In October-November he lectures on Russian prose at the universities of Milan and Turin.

In 1991, the first edition of the novel “The Adventures of Major Zvyagin” was published in Leningrad under the label of the Estonian publishing house “Periodika”.

In 1993, a book of short stories “Legends of Nevsky Prospekt” was published in Tallinn by the Estonian Cultural Foundation in a circulation of 500 copies.

The top ten of the “Book Review” of 1994 is headed by the next hundred thousandth edition of “The Adventures of Major Zvyagin”. Gives lectures on modern Russian prose at the University of Odense (Denmark).

In 1995, the St. Petersburg publishing house "Lan" published the book "Legends of Nevsky Prospect" in mass cheap editions. Reprints of all books follow in "Lani", publishing houses "Vagrius" (Moscow), "Neva" (St. Petersburg), "Folio" (Kharkov).

In the summer of 1996, he and his entire family left for Israel. In November, a new novel, “Samovar,” is published by the Jerusalem publishing house “Worlds.” Gives lectures on modern Russian prose at the University of Jerusalem. In the spring of 1997 he returns to Estonia.

In 1998, the eight-hundred-page philosophical “universal theory of everything” “Everything about Life” was published, outlining the theory of energy evolutionism.

Trip around the USA in 1999 with performances before readers in New York, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago. A book of short stories, “Monument to Dantes,” is published.

In 2000, the novel “The Messenger from Pisa” (“Zero Hours”) was published. Moving to Moscow.

2002: “Cassandra” is the next iteration of Weller’s philosophy, written abstractly and in places even academically. The name of the philosophical model also appears: “energy vitalism”. But two years later the collection “B. Babylonian”, where in the story “White Donkey” it is corrected to “energy-evolutionism”. There the author cites the distinctive features of his model.

On February 6, 2008, by the decision of the President of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Mikhail Weller was awarded the Order of the White Star, 4th class. The order was presented on December 18, 2008 at an informal meeting at the Estonian Embassy in Moscow.

In 2009, the book “Legends of Arbat” was published.

Currently lives in Moscow and Tallinn.

Philosophical views. Energy evolutionism

In the book “The Meaning of Life,” published in 2007, Mikhail Weller revealed the main provisions of his philosophical theory of “Energy Evolutionism,” according to which “all subjective and objective human activity is completely consistent with and lies in line with the general evolution of the Cosmos, which boils down to the complication of material and energy structures, increasing the energy level of material systems, and from the beginning of the Universe has been developing with a positive balance, in increasing progression.” Its forerunners can be called Julius Robert von Mayer, who expressed several rather original ideas on the topic of conservation of energy in living and inanimate matter, Nobel laureate Wilhelm Friedrich Ostwald, as well as the Soviet philosopher Evald Vasilyevich Ilyenkov, who presented a similar hypothesis in his work “Cosmology of the Spirit”. Weller draws bold conclusions based on concepts such as “significance” and “feelings.” For example: “The desire for the meaning of life is the desire for one’s own significance,” or “Human life is the sum of sensations.” The Russian philosopher unites all this under the general guise of “Energy Evolutionism,” proving that the main goal of man, in an objective sense, is energy transformation, and that not a single animal on Earth was capable of using the energy of the surrounding world on such a scale, transforming the Universe, and even destroying it. But after the destruction of one another will appear, a new World will be born; man must follow this path as the most perfect creation of the Cosmos. The existing energy, according to Weller, must be released, otherwise a person may commit suicide without finding a way out and realization for it. The author pays special attention to transpersonal values, that is, those that, in a person’s understanding, stand above everything in the world, above life itself, and notes: “if you have nothing to serve, you will serve what was supposed to serve you.” The author attributes to kindness, or rather to good deeds, the desire of people to “directly” extend their feelings, thoughts and actions to other people, that is, to increase their significance.

Criticism

Philosopher David Dubrovsky criticized Weller for amateurism in the field of philosophy, characterizing energy evolutionism as “a mixture of platitudes, commonplaces with theoretically unclear, incorrect statements.”

Political Views

In September 2011, Mikhail Weller called for voting for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, arguing: the turnover of power should give all parties the understanding that at the next elections they will “re-elect and throw out the party” if it does not meet the expectations of voters. He is also convinced that the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is the only independent party in 2011. Weller said that it is necessary to vote, even if you don’t like any party, since “at least something in these Augean stables will be cleaned out.”

Family

• Wife - Anna Agriomati
• Daughter - Valentina (b. 1987)

Works

Stories and novels

• Rendezvous with a Celebrity (1990)
• The Adventures of Major Zvyagin (1991)
• Seryozha Dovlatov's Knife (1994)
• Samovar (1996)
• Messenger from Pisa (2000)
• Fierce (2003)
• Novels (2003)
• My Business (2006)
• Not a knife, not Seryozha, not Dovlatova (2006)
• Makhno (2007)

Collections

• I want to be a janitor (1983)
• Heartbreaker (1988)
• Legends of Nevsky Prospekt (1993)
• Cavalry March (1996)
• Rules of Omnipotence (1997)
• But those shish (1997)
• Monument to Dantes (1999)
• Fantasies of Nevsky Prospekt (1999)
• Memorizer
• The Forgotten Rattle (2003)
• Legends (2003)
• B. Vavilonskaya (2004)
• Short prose (2006)
• Love is Evil (2006)
• Legends of Various Crossroads (2006)
• About Love (2006)
• Legends of Arbat (2009)
• Ambulance Tales
• Mishaherazade (2011)

Journalism, philosophy, literary criticism

• Story Technology (1989)
• All about life (1998)
• Cassandra (2002)
• Performances (2003)
• Great Last Chance (2005)
• To the Last Chance (2006)
• Understander (2006)
• A General Theory of Everything (2006)
• Song of the Triumphant Plebeian (2006)
• Civil history of a mad war (co-authored with Andrei Burovsky) (2007)
• The Meaning of Life (2007)
• Russia and recipes (2007)
• Word and profession: how to become a writer (2008)
• Perpendicular (2008)
• Man in the System (2010)
• Energy evolutionism (2011)
• Psychology of energy evolutionism (2011)
• Sociology of energy evolutionism (2011)
• Aesthetics of energy evolutionism (2011)
• Our Fathers are Merciful (2011)
• Term for President (2012)