Presentation of the reissue of Divertissement, a book by Vadim Gaevsky

Presentation of the reissue of Divertissement, a book by Vadim Gaevsky (St. Petersburg: Seance publishers, 2018)

Divertissement was originally published in 1981 and was immediately banned. The reason for that was the fundamental discrepancy between the writer's world outlook and the canons and attitudes of late Soviet culture. Despite the ban, the book had a tremendous impact on a whole generation of intellectuals, going far beyond discourse in a closed professional territory. Today we can unconditionally call Gaevsky's Divertissement a monument of Russian artistic culture.

The presentation of the reissue of Divertissement at the Stanislavsky Electrotheatre will be hosted by the author Vadim Gaevsky; Lyubov Arkus, the editor-in-chief of Seance magazine and publishing house; and Pavel Gershenzon, the curator of the second edition. The meeting will be moderated by Marina Davydova, editor-in-chief of Theatre magazine.

Vadim Moiseevich Gaevsky is a great connoisseur and researcher of Russian ballet, who spent his long and complex life in the theatre. He addresses primas of pre- and post-war Moscow formally, by name and patronymic, but with everyone else he is on a first-name basis. However, this does not prevent him from recognizing our time as no less interesting and significant than any golden page of the past. Vadim Gaevsky is very much like his books; they convey the vivacity of his conversation, freely moving from subject to subject, with unexpected twists, zigzags, and jumps. His stories are uninhibited and irreverent. That describes Divertissement too.

Admission free with prior registration on TimePad.ru.