About the book: 2021 / What does it mean to gain your identity not by birth, but in the process of a long and difficult cultural evolution? What does it mean to always be “different” – for society, for culture, for oneself, finally? In the new book by Leonid Girshovich, works of different genres are united by the theme of Jewishness - from the carnival play on the Christmas plot in the story “Rejoice” to essays on anti-Semitism, the trials of Nazi criminals and whether villains should be punished in the name of justice. Saints and sinners, persecuted and persecutors, geniuses and nonentities, executioners and victims appear on the pages of the book - each of them acquires a linguistic and human individuality in the author’s prose and essays. Leonid Girshovich is a writer and musician, author of novels and stories “Exchanged Heads” (1992), “Price” (1998), “Viy. Schubert's vocal cycle on the words of Gogol" (2005), "Fascism and vice versa" (2006), "Schautbenacht» (2006).