Salon

Last Monday, the Triumph Prize for best young poet was awarded to one of Russia's most promising writers, Linor Goralik. Funded by Boris Berezovsky, the Triumph Fund gives prizes for entire bodies of work rather than for specific texts, which, in Goralik's case, definitely makes sense. Few authors on the literary scene are more prolific and versatile.

A native of Dnepropetrovsk, Goralik came to Moscow several years ago, fed up with her managerial career in Israeli information technology companies. In just a short time, she became one of the most distinct voices of her generation both in poetry and in short prose, as well as establishing herself as a successful writer for major advertising companies and one of the most sought-after authors on the fast-growing market of Russian glossy magazines.

Recent months have witnessed yet another side of her literary personality: the publication of a futuristic novel, co-authored with journalist and critic Sergei Kuznetsov, whose title can be translated as "No," "Nyet" or, more simply, "The Net."

The novel is set in 2060, in a world both very different from and similar to ours. Its main subject is pornography. But don't hold your breath for sassiness; in the mid-21st century, pornography is a respectable business, and the relevant details are so high-tech given the dramatic progress of technology that it's hard to imagine anyone who could use the novel as a source of sensual pleasure. The book's kicks lie elsewhere -- in its violent lyrical narration, in a series of detective-style storylines, in a mixture of characters with whom it is easy to identify. Trouble is, almost everyone in the novel is a social misfit. Goralik's book is honest enough to give a glimpse of a less twisted "mainstream" world, but it never becomes anything more than a backdrop for a score of miserable, wretched lives. The novel got kudos from almost all quarters, and, says Goralik, the critical acclaim -- indeed, the very fact that it was noticed -- came as a shock for both authors.

This being Goralik's first attempt at the novelic genre, things can only get easier. Goralik has written another novel in co-authorship with writer Stanislav Lvovsky ("We wanted to write a book about our generation's attitude towards the United States, but it came out differently"), and right now, apart from finishing an academic treatise about Barbie dolls, she is busy writing what she calls "a religious novel."

"It's about the youngest daughter of Adam and Eve, and her relationship with parents, God and a rabbit. I really can't say much more," Goralik remarks.