May 27 marks the 80th anniversary of the classic of Russian literature. The author of "Pushkin House" is famous not only for his texts, but also for his passion for mountaineering, erection of monuments, playing movies, musical readings and appearing in other people's texts as a character. collected extra- and near-literary events in the life of Andrei Bitov.

If we just take a random listing of Andrey Bitov's books - that is, what immediately comes to mind without stress of memory, verification with bibliography and chronology: for example, "Pushkin House", "Aptekarsky Island", "Flying Monks", "Seven Voyages", "Days of Man", "Announced", "Teacher of Symmetry", "Hare Subtraction" - "Pushkin House" will still come first. The novel, first published in Russia 30 years ago (anniversary!), Diverged in the lists at about the same time as Moscow-Petushki and School for Fools were read, and together with them forms a triad of almost the main texts of the late 20th century. Three parts of the philological (as the name indicates), drowning in digressions, literary studies, allusions and quotes of the narrative about three generations of one family, the family of the protagonist - Leva Odoevtsev. The novel, in many ways, has made Bitov's reputation as a postmodernist.

There is a pause after "Pushkin House". And not only because Bitov was not published. It's just that the novel turned out to be so significant that it seemed to overshadow everything that Bitov published before and what he began to publish after - both fiction and essay. Bitov continued to write and compose from the book he had written, to replay the solitaire of his texts. But all this was as if in the shadow of the "Pushkin House". He remained in historical time, in the "fifth dimension" (according to Bitov's term), and Bitov continued to exist at different times, including relevance.

Every day can be easily processed like a novel, Andrei Bitov said in one interview, as if arguing with Tolstoy, who unsuccessfully tried to turn the events of one day into a text. Literature is always a reduction, a reduction. The flow of life requires form, and form is limitation. The later Bitov marks, in particular, the fight against this limitation. The writer manifests himself in the word, but he longs that the word does not absorb everything, being at the same time everything.

A writer is a hypertext, says Bitov, one big book. But only the text does not fit into the book, just as a gesture, voice, intonation does not fit. One can be suspicious (how) of an artistic gesture and its significance. This is clear. But it is equally clear why, at least starting with the Symbolists, and in fact much earlier, he was so attracted to him. Because the cup with Socrates' hemlock, Tolstoy's departure from Yasnaya Polyana, Dostoevsky's roulette, passion for Nekrasov's cards, tennis, puzzle-making and Nabokov's charades are no less significant. And all this is far from only an addition, a note, a comment to a word, that is, not only a context.

Here are some facts that go beyond the artistic word of Andrei Georgievich Bitov.

Circassian origin

Eastern calendar

The writer reflects: “Many are ironic about my hobby for the eastern calendar ... But in vain. This is serious! There are certain patterns. Even in the 19th century, people were born in portions, there are all the signs of the zodiac, such a zoo was formed in twelve years. If you list the writers of the Golden Age, you can immediately see that they, like testicles, lie in a basket. And this also applies to the Silver Age. Akhmatova - 1889, Pasternak - 1890, Mandelstam - 1891, Tsvetaeva - 1892, Mayakovsky - 1893 - 1894, Yesenin - 1895 ... or have I confused him with someone? "

Fight with Voznesensky

In the presentation, the plot looked like this:

“In his youth, Bitov behaved aggressively. Especially drunk. And once he hit the poet Voznesensky.
This was not the first case of its kind. And Bitov was brought to a friendly court. His affairs were bad.

"This is what lovers mean - blind ... They are blind, but how cleverly. They are blind to themselves. They see what they just want. They see what they want. So what, I didn't love even then?" . "

Boy, Alyosha, Monakhov ... I just wanted to ask the author, where is the development? And I'm not talking about the plot, I'm about the hero! .. Really in the novel, which took 30 years to create, there should be such a hero ... so petty, dependent, unable to experience his emotions ... any! I'm not talking about love, there was no smell of love here ... painful addiction - yes, the desire to possess - yes, but definitely not love.
So maybe all the "twists and turns accompanying the publication of the novel under the conditions of Soviet censorship" were not just that, of course there is nothing sexy here ... well, only if the hero's memories of Svetochka's taste are there ... well, well, it doesn't sound like much sexually. Maybe it was just really not worth releasing this work?
What's the point? What is the moral?
Looking for love? No. Understanding freedom? Please dismiss. Philosophical reasoning? No, what are you. Maybe the disclosure of the topic of fathers and children? And again by.
So what is the book about? What is this monotonous and periodically incoherent reasoning? ..
A dotted novel, a novel in stories, where each story is some kind of new spiritual torment of the hero. But just ... it is so emotionless that every page you wade through long monologues that do not touch a single string of the soul. You read and wait for the glow .. well, Monakhov, now I will see that you have turned from an amoeba into a man! But no ... all along the knurled, all along some slimy path of dislike.

The first reason: maybe this boy was disliked in childhood?
So yes, they didn't like it ... so why can't he keep his penis in his pants so much when one of the "same" ones appears on his way? .. And if he could, then he praises himself, what kind of he is a good fellow ... after all, he is a married man, and he did not give another / former / new one. I didn't give this one, so let's go to another ... probably the act of a true man, but what a true one, at least some man.
In fact, this book reminded me of another, not with a plot, but with feelings for the hero - this is "Sincerely Yours Shurik" by Lyudmila Ulitskaya. there is the same slippery character, a mama's son, restless to the fact that from the straight path everything to the left is turned ...

Reason two: maybe the boy was under-educated?
So yes, they were under-educated ... judging by the family, so there is a poorly concealed matriarchy, and the father is a business trip. What can I say, that it is customary for a boy to look at women from the bottom up, to idolize them, but in his heart he does not feel anything for them - complete zero. Dragging around one, marrying another, leaving for the third, grabbing the fourth ... and sighing at the first. The hero's path is too difficult ... but is he a hero?

A person who has all the thoughts already "considered", all the images "examined", the whole life "lived" ... all of him seems to be wiser, but no ...
He caused only one feeling - pity, and such a disgusting pity ... when you look at a person, you feel sorry for him, but you also give him a shot, because ... well, you can't be that way.

Complete zero. Zero emotion, zero life ... a boy zeroed to the ground.

A. Bitov is a laureate of the awards of the magazines "Friendship of Peoples", "New World", "Foreign Literature", "Zvezda", "Ogonyok" and others. Since 1997, A. Bitov is an honorary doctor of Yerevan State University and an honorary citizen of the city of Yerevan.

Was born on May 27, 1937 in Leningrad. Hereditary Petersburger. Father - Georgy Leonidovich Bitov (1902-1977), architect. Mother - Olga Alekseevna Kedrova (1905-1990), lawyer. Children: Anna (born in 1962), Ivan (born in 1977), Georgy (born in 1988).

Andrei Bitov's first childhood memories are associated with the blockade winter of 1941/42. Then there was an evacuation to the Urals, then a move to Tashkent, from which he began his "travels" that have not stopped to this day. During his school years he took a great interest in mountaineering, at the age of 16 he received the badge "Mountaineer of the USSR". Then I discovered bodybuilding. Love for the mountains led him in 1957 to the Leningrad Mining Institute at the Faculty of Geology. Andrei Bitov began to write as a student. At the institute, he entered the literary association under the leadership of Gleb Semyonov. Such well-known poets as A. Kushner, A. Gorodnitsky, V. Britanishsky, G. Gorbovsky and others worked there.

In 1957, the collection of literary associations, which included the first works of A. Bitov, was burned in the courtyard of the institute in connection with the events in Hungary. Then Bitov was expelled from the institute and ended up in the army, in the construction battalion in the North. In 1958 he managed to demobilize, to recover at the institute, from which he graduated in 1962. Then he began to write prose. The first stories were published in the almanac "Young Leningrad" in 1960. These stories were later included in the collection The Big Ball, published in 1963 in Leningrad. From this year Andrey Bitov becomes a professional writer. In 1965 he was admitted to the Writers' Union of the USSR.

In 1965-1967 he studied at the Higher Scriptwriting Courses at the State Film Agency in Moscow. His fellow students were R. Gabriadze, V. Makanin, R. Ibragimbekov, G. Matevosyan.

1973-1974 were years of postgraduate studies at the Institute of World Literature (IMLI). A dissertation written by him in the specialty "theory of literature" was presented for defense, but he did not defend it.

In 1967, the first book, "Countryside", was published in Moscow, followed by: "Aptekarsky Island" (1968), "The Lessons of Armenia" (1969), "Way of Life" (1972), "Days of a Man" (1976), " Seven Journeys "(1976). After the publication of the novel "Pushkin House" in 1978 in the USA and participation in the compilation of the uncensored almanac "Metropol" in 1979, it was practically not published until MS came to power. Gorbachev. In connection with perestroika, new times began. In 1986, Andrei Bitov's books "Georgian Album", "Man in a Landscape" and "Articles from a Novel" were published. In 1987 the novel "The Flying Monks" was published.

Andrey Bitov has published collections of poems "The Tree" and "On Thursday after the Rain" (St. Petersburg: Pushkin Foundation, 1997). The author has an idea to write a play - from the genres he had not mastered, drama remained. A. Bitov's works were translated into almost all European languages.

Since 1978, the writer began life in two cities - Moscow and Leningrad. He considers himself the champion of this route. Since 1986, constant moving has begun: Moscow - Leningrad - abroad. In 1992-1993 in Berlin, the scientific college ("Wisshenschafts Kolleg") provided A. Bitov with the conditions for working on his favorite topic. Before him, among Russians, such a right was granted to A. Schnittke and O. Ioseliani. During this time, A. Bitov completed "Empire in four dimensions", it was published in Russia in 1996. Empire ... corresponds to the sequence of English-language editions: Life in Windy Weather (1986), Pushkin House (1987), Captive of the Caucasus (1988), The Monkey Link (1995). The latest books by A. Bitov: "Announced" and "The First Book of the Author" (1996), "Thursday After the Rain" and "New Gulliver" (1997), "The Inevitability of the Unwritten" (1998), "The Tree" and "The Assumption to Live, 1836 "(1999), Subtracting a Hare, 1825" (2001), the last book in English - "Life Without Us" (1999).

Since the fall of 1986, Andrei Bitov has become a guest, gave lectures and readings in many countries, participated in many conferences and symposia. He taught Russian literature abroad, in particular in the USA: Weslyan University, Connecticut (Connecticut, 1988), NYU (New York University, 1995), Princeton (Princeton University, 1996).

Since 1988, A. Bitov has participated in the creation of the Russian Pen-Club, and since 1991 he has been its president. A. Bitov worked in the cinema. In 1979 he wrote the script for the film "Thursday and Never Again" (directed by A. Efros), in 1967 he co-wrote the Soviet-Japanese film "The Little Fugitive". Once A. Bitov even starred in Sergei Solovyov's film "Alien, White and Pockmarked." In 1990 he became the first recipient of the Pushkin Prize in Germany. In 1992 he was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation for the novel "The Flying Monks".

In 1997, he again became a laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation and the Northern Palmyra Prize for the novel "The Announced" (the last novel completing "Empire in Four Dimensions"). A. Bitov - laureate of international prizes: Andrei Bely in St. Petersburg (1990), Best Foreign Book of the Year (Paris, 1990) for the novel "Pushkin House". A. Bitov - Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Literature (France), co-president of the Nabokov Foundation in St. Petersburg, chairman of the commission on the inheritance of Andrei Platonov, member of the presidium of the Mandelstam Society.

A. Bitov is a laureate of the awards of the magazines "Friendship of Peoples", "New World", "Foreign Literature", "Zvezda", "Ogonyok", etc. Since 1997 A. Bitov is an honorary doctor of Yerevan State University and an honorary citizen of the city of Yerevan. A. Bitov - vice-president of the international association "World of Culture" (President - Fazil Iskander), vice-president of the European community of intellectuals "Gulliver" with a center in Amsterdam, jury member of the "Pushkin Prize" in Hamburg, jury member of the "Triumph" award, member of the Committee for the awarding of the State Prize of the Russian Federation. In 1999 he was a member of the jury of the World Essay Competition in Weimar.

As for free time, A. Bitov says that over time, a hobby becomes a profession. Love for cinema led to the profession of screenwriter and actor, love for books - to participate in the design of their own books, love to music - to the creation of Pushkin's jazz, where reading drafts of A.S. Pushkin is accompanied by jazz improvisation. In 1998-1999, Pushkin Jazz toured in New York, Berlin, St. Petersburg and Moscow. Dislike for monumental sculpture led to the idea of ​​"minimonumentalism" (together with Rezo Gabriadze). As an example - the monument to Chizhik-Pyzhik in St. Petersburg, the Hare - in the village of Mikhailovskoye, etc. The very idea of ​​reuniting the profession with a hobby led to the creation in 1991 of the informal association "BaGaZh" (Bitov, Akhmadulina, Aleshkovsky, Zhvanetsky and those who joined him Yu. Rost, A. Velikanov, V. Tarasov and others). According to Andrey Bitov, his whole life is "a continuous journey, which can no longer be called a hobby."

Lives and works in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Date of Birth: 27.05.1937

Soviet, Russian writer, prose writer, poet, publicist, screenwriter. Despite the fact that Bitov's prose is relatively little known to the general public, his influence in literary circles is enormous. Bitov is considered one of the first Russian postmodernists.

Born in Leningrad, in the family of an architect. During the blockade he was evacuated to the Urals, then to Tashkent. During his school years he took a great interest in mountaineering, at the age of 16 he received the badge "Mountaineer of the USSR". His love for the mountains led him in 1955 to the Leningrad Mining Institute at the geological exploration faculty. Andrei Bitov began to write as a student. At the institute, he entered the literary association under the leadership of Gleb Semyonov. In 1957, the collection of literary associations, which included the first works of A. Bitov, was burned in the courtyard of the institute in connection with the events in Hungary. Then Bitov was expelled from the institute and ended up in the army, in the construction battalion in the North. In 1958 he was demobilized and he managed to recover at the institute, from which he graduated in 1962. Bitov's first publication took place in 1960 - in the almanac "Young Leningrad" (story "Grandmother's bowl"). The first collection of short stories "The Big Ball" (1963) was condemned by the official criticism in the newspaper Izvestia "for excessive humiliation and confusion of the heroes." However, the writer was not banned, Bitov's books continued to be published, in 1965 he joined the Union of Writers of the USSR, in 1967 he graduated from the Higher Scenario Courses at the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR in Moscow. 1973-1974 years were years of postgraduate studies at the Institute of World Literature (IMLI), however Bitov never defended his thesis. From 1960 to 1978, about ten books of Bitov's prose were published. After the publication of the novel "Pushkin House" in 1978 in the USA and participation in the compilation of the uncensored almanac "Metropol" in 1979, it was practically not published until MS came to power. Gorbachev. In 1986, Andrei Bitov's books "Georgian Album", "Man in a Landscape" and "Articles from a Novel" were published. In 1987 the novel "The Flying Monks" was published. Since 1986, Andrei Bitov has become a guest, gave lectures and readings in many countries, participated in many conferences and symposia. He taught Russian literature abroad, in particular in the USA: Weslyan University, Connecticut (Connecticut, 1988), NYU (New York University, 1995), Princeton (Princeton University, 1996). Since 1988, A. Bitov has participated in the creation of the Russian Pen-Club, and since 1991 he has been its president. In 1990, Bitov became the first winner of the Pushkin Prize in Germany. In 1992 he was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation for the novel "The Flying Monks". Bitov is the creator of the so-called "Pushkin Jazz", where AS Pushkin is accompanied by jazz improvisation. In 1998-1999, Pushkin Jazz toured in New York, Berlin, St. Petersburg and Moscow. Bitov, together with Rezo Gabriadze, created a number of sculptural works in the genre that the writer himself calls "minimonumentalism": a monument to Chizhik-Pyzhik in St. Petersburg, a monument to the Hare in the village of Mikhailovskoye, etc. He was one of the founders in 1991 of the informal association " BaGaZh "(Bitov, Akhmadulina, Aleshkovsky, Zhvanetsky and Y. Rost, A. Velikanov, V. Tarasov and others who joined them). In addition to the Writers' Union, Bitov is the chairman of the commission on lit. heritage of A. Platonov (since 1988), vice-president of the association "World of Culture", chairman of the board of the Nabokov Foundation (since 1992). In addition, Bitov is a member of the Council of the F.M.Dostoevsky Society in the USSR (since 1990), editorial boards of magazines and almanacs (since 1996 public council), "Solo", "VL" (since 1989), "Circle of reading", public council (1990-97), ed.-publ. council of the almanac "Petropol", the board of trustees of the magazine "Other banks", the jury of the prize "Triumph" (since 1992), the commission for the State. Prizes under the President of the Russian Federation (since 1997). Since 1997 A. Bitov is an honorary doctor of the Yerevan State University and an honorary citizen of the city of Yerevan.

A. Bitov is considered the founder of Russian postmodernism, and "Pushkin House" is the first postmodern novel in the USSR.

Bitov's approach to the "writing" of major works is peculiar. His books are gradually compiled from stories of different years and are constantly supplemented. None of Bitov's major works can be said to be "finished" and subsequent editions often differ from previous ones.

A. Bitov has a wonderful sense of humor and a talent as an orator. Some phrases from just one of his speeches:
-… the writer is lonely and the reader is lonely. But someone, reading a book, ceases to be lonely for this time.
- In my opinion, he lost at roulette in order to write a novel. (about Dostoevsky)
- I feel like a person who does not know how to write ... I am in complete panic, how is it even possible.
“I'm sure my books will outlive me. Fifty years.

In his book "Solo on Underwood" he describes an episode of Bitov's fight with Voznesensky. At the comradely trial, Bitov (according to Dovlatov) said: “It was like this. I go to the Continental. Andrei Voznesensky is standing. And now answer, - Bitov exclaimed, - could I not give him in the face ?! ". Both "participants" in the incident later denied the fact of the fight.

A. Bitov is the only writer who was twice awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation for works of art.

Writer Awards

Orders and medals
Order of the Badge of Honor (1987)
Order of Merit in Art and Literature (France, 1993)
Movses Khorenatsi Medal (Armenia, 1999)

Bibliography

Big Ball (1963)
Such a long childhood (1965)
Countryside (1967)

Journey to a childhood friend (1968)
Lifestyle (1972)
Seven Journeys (1976)
Days of Man (1976)

Sunday afternoon (1980)
Georgian album (1985)
Articles from the novel (1986)
Travel Book (1986)

The Last Story (1988)

Andrey Georgievich Bitov - prose writer, essayist, screenwriter - was born May 27, 1937 in Leningrad. Father, G.L. Bitov, - architect, mother, O.A. Kedrova is a lawyer.

From besieged Leningrad in 1942 exported to the Urals, then to Central Asia, in 1944 returned to his hometown.

1955-1962 A. Bitov studied at the geological exploration faculty of the Mining Institute (with a break, after expulsion - the first prose, the first enrollment by the authorities in unreliable elements - to serve in the construction battalion, in 1957-1958).

The first literary community that Bitov joined autumn 1956, it turned out LITO of the Mining Institute, led by Gleb Semyonov, a poet, mentor of the then Leningrad unbiased debutants. Bitov's poems were published in the second poetry collection of the Semyonov LITO, burned by the decision of the institute's party committee summer 1957.

In the first 1-2 years of his literary life, Bitov became friends with L. Ageev, V. Britanishsky, S. Wolf, J. Vinkovetsky, L. Gladka, A. Gorodnitsky, E. Kutyrev, A. Kushner, E. Kumpan and others. by the then young authors.

In 1960 he is a participant in the conference of young writers of Leningrad (together with R. Grachev, J. Dlugolensky, B. Sergunenkov, etc.). A special role in the formation of Bitov's inner world was played by his first wife Inga Petkevich, volcanologist Heinrich Steinberg, poet Gleb Gorbovsky, prose writers Viktor Golyavkin, Reid Grachev, Heinrich Chef. The relatively successful literary fate of Bitov also helped a lot by the fact that the most authoritative Leningrad writers of the older generation, the most authoritative among young people, were initially convinced of his talent: L.Ya. Ginzburg, G.S. Gor, V.F. Panova, L.N. Rakhmanov, M.L. Slonimsky ... In particular, the latter headed LITO at the publishing house "Soviet Writer", which Bitov visited early 1960s.

Having worked after institute for less than a year as a drilling foreman of the Nevsky Geological Party on the Karelian Isthmus, Bitov at the age of 25 embarks on the path of a professional writer.

In 1965 he was admitted to the joint venture, in 1965-1966 studies at the Higher Scenario Courses in Moscow and has since divided his life between the two capitals.

Bitov's first stories were published in the almanac "Young Leningrad" ( 1960 ) - "Grandma's Piala", "Foreign Language", "Fig". First Sat stories "Big ball" published in 1963.

As was the case in the late Soviet years, the official criticism confirmed Bitov's authority in the eyes of readers, as was the case in the late Soviet years. The story "My wife is not at home" from the collection "The Big Ball" was included by party ideologists in one negative list with "Vologda Wedding" by A. Yashin and "Matrenin's Dvor" by A. Solzhenitsyn. Bitov, along with Golyavkin, were accused of "excessive humiliation and confusion of the heroes they portrayed" (Izvestia. 1965. Aug. 14).

First of all, Bitov returned to Russian prose the “little man” who had been strangled in the Soviet years, equated to the “common man” and “bourgeoisie” as a mainstream literary hero. And not in the guise of Akaki Akakievich, but in the guise of Pushkin's rebellious Eugene from The Bronze Horseman. Moreover, in Bitov's prose "on horseback" is not the ruler, but Yevgeny himself. Neither in the future nor in the past is there a mystery for the writer that is more significant than that hidden in the life of a simple modern person among everyday hobbies and worries.

The story "Penelope" ( 1962 , publ. 1965 ) - a variation of the same psychological collision that is reflected in the story "The wife is not at home." The inescapable motive of help (or its terrible absence) to the "little man" Bitov turns inside out, interprets him as deceitful. From the object of someone else's influence, the hero of Bitov's prose turns into a subject influencing his own and someone else's life. The a priori value is represented by the consciousness inherent in the hero, his reflection, and not being. In the "little man" Bitov recognized the big individualist, the "pearl of creation."

The mocking correctness of the characters 'self-identification is a kind of brand of Bits' prose, as well as of all young Leningrad prose. But it was Bitov who wrote in the story "Garden" (publ. 1967 ) Directly: "" Lord, how small we are all! " - exclaimed the strange author. "It is so! It is so!" - Alexey rejoiced. "

The plots of the stories and short stories of Bitov, which fit into the framework of ordinary realistic prose, coalesce into non-canonical artistic formations. The writer's artistic intuition transcends genre, anticipating the ideas of postmodernism. Instead of the "genre", the "text" stands out as the structure-forming unit of prose. Written seemingly in a strictly realistic tonality of the story "Life in Windy Weather", "Garden" is interpreted as a whole either inside the "folding" "Countryside" (with the cinematic subtitle "Double"), then inside the "dotted line" novel "The Flying Monks" ... The degree of reflection on his own text in Bits becomes such that the work itself tends to the author's commentary, cannot exist without it. The narrated "incident from life" by Bitov only imitated the plot familiar to the traditional realistic story. The spirit of poetic comprehension of life, the spirit of essayism becomes in Bitov's creative method dominating himself.

In books second half of the 1960s- "Such a long childhood" ( 1965 ), "Countryside" ( 1967 ), "Journey to a childhood friend" ( 1968 ), "Aptekarsky Island" ( 1968 ) - the heroes wander towards themselves.

Serious, existentially experienced, turned out to be meetings with Armenia and Georgia - not only (or not so much) with people, but - with the "unearthly" fatherland, with temples inscribed in nature and "not overshadowed by man and the work of his hands" ("Lessons Armenia "), meetings with speculation about the" divine norm ", culminating in the adoption of the creed. Here lit. reference point - Pushkin. Pushkin as an a priori, "divine" given that generates a "text".

Between "Lessons of Armenia" ( 1967-1969 ) and "Georgian Album" ( 1970-1973 ) was the "Pushkin House", which was printed in fragments in periodicals, but first published in the USA (publishing house "Ardis", 1978 ). At home, the novel was printed in 1987(New world. No. 10-12), but in the canonical full volume only in 1999(St. Petersburg: Ivan Limbakh publishing house). It is significant that "Pushkin House" was written at the same time as another important work on this topic - "Moscow-Petushki" ( 1969 ) Venedikt Erofeev. The actual drunkenness in the Pushkin House is the only day and night that appears in the novel. Similarly, Joyce in Ulysses described just one day in the life of Dublin.

Immediately after "Pushkin House" was written the essay story "Birds, or New Information about a Man" ( 1971 ). It became the beginning of the largest creation of Bitov in subsequent years - the "wandering novel" "Announced". The story is written about the twofold essence of human existence.

In 1979 Bitov participates as an author ("The Last Bear", "Deaf Street", "The Doctor's Funeral") and compiler (with V. Aksenov, V. Erofeev, F. Iskander and E. Popov) in the Moscow literary anthology "Metropol", the former according to Erofeev, "an attempt to combat stagnation in conditions of stagnation." The almanac was not published in the USSR, but it was immediately published in the USA in Russian and translated into English and French. At home, Bitov was excommunicated from the printing press until 1985... That was immediately "compensated" by the publication in Europe and the USA.

During these years, Bitov wrote the story "A Man in a Landscape" ( 1983 ), which became the second part of "Announced".

The characters of the first two novellas of "The Announced" - the narrator, Dr. DD, the artist PP - converged on the third, called "Waiting for the Monkeys" ( 1993 ). Intense discussions in an informal setting stretched out and in Waiting for the Monkeys approached another hot spot in our historical landscape - 1984.

The undisclosed intention of the "Announced" is to see in being a "little man" - a creator who has not mastered creation, but nevertheless a genius.

If in a totalitarian society Bitov managed to make ends meet with free labor, then in free times the ends were tied to employers: “Perhaps, until 1985, I never wrote to order, which was customary to be proud of. However, it was not so difficult to preserve this honor from a young age: no one asked "(" Robinson and Gulliver "). So the severity of the new yoke of Bits is not exaggerating. I wanted, for example, to publish my poems in a separate book, and he does it right there - in two versions: the collections "Tree" ( 1997 ) and "Thursday after the rain" ( 1997 ). The same verses (part) can be mixed with essays and get another book - another "Tree" ( 1998 ). You can also do astrology and approve "The beginnings of astrology of Russian literature" ( 1994 ). And to release my "first" book, 40 years after it was written: "The first book of the author (Aptekarskiy prospect, 6)" ( 1996 ). Reflections on Pushkin are devoted to the book “The Assumption to Live. 1836 "( 1999 ), “Subtracting a hare. 1825 "( 2001 ). Etc.