Virtual Explorers: Russian Nonfiction Writing Program Student Anthology - Class of Fall 2020

Phrases and events that shaped me.

Dasha Novichkova I came to visit my grandmother for the winter holidays. First of all, I began to dig into bookcases – I really wanted to take home the two-volume F.M. Dostoevsky "Brothers Karamazov." I tried to get two of my needs out of a bunch of books, and suddenly a letter fell out of the book "Name of the Rose." The letter which was very important to my grandmother.

My grandmother received the last letter from her grandfather, in which only a few lines were written: "Marinochka, I met one person here, he is very attentive, and he has kind, but very sad eyes. His eyes remind me of you and Nadia, as if you were holding hands in their reflection. How are you there? I really miss you. " Two weeks later, an official letter arrived he died of blood infection. The family did not believe it, but none of them dared to make a general judgment - it was too dangerous and suddenly they did not want to shake the tragic fate of the deceased.

That person with kind and sad eyes turned out to be the same man who survived 16 years of difficult trials, and now decided to write about it. And he also remembered Grandma's grandfather, but did not name the name in the story. But my grandmother found out from the description and cried. Or maybe she really wanted to find him in the book, understand what really happened to him.

This man did not like bright and magnificent speeches - his syllable was concise and brief.

He was not shy about heavy details, prickly remarks and unsightly descriptions. And because of his honesty, he became the new mouthpiece of those who suffered at that time - whether they themselves were in this earthly hell or their loved ones, many of whom did not return.

Grandma keeps his book at home carefully. The story in which she saw the image of her grandfather was carefully cut out of the collection and stored in a frame - similar descriptions are emphasized by a simple pencil. Grandmother says that if he had not documented Kolyma and everything that he saw, she would have remembered her grandfather only as he left - uncomfortable, with a frozen promise on her lips that he would 55