About the book: 2015 / The book contains memoirs and essays by Alexey Smirnov (1937–2009), a Moscow artist, icon painter, writer and publicist, member of the Second Russian Avant-Garde. The book is characterized by a direct style of presentation that borders on arrogance. It reflected the spiritual rift that Smirnov carried through his life. This is a truly Russian fault line that is catching up with us all today, when Russians do not really understand who they are and with whom, Asia or Europe, Slavs or Tatars, they fraternize with their Caucasian brothers, but at the same time they dream of a Russian Kyiv. This whole theme runs like a red thread through his memoirs and essays: Smirnov hates Erefia, hates the Bolsheviks, hates all the kings after Alexander II and misses the old Russia that was, but which was lost.