- with
- WITHOUT ORNAMENTS
with Ornaments
Truth With Ornaments is an allegorical gay novel based on a true story by Jacob Green, a Russian novelist. Written under extraordinary circumstances, it was self-published first in Russian and a few years later in English.
Set in an imaginary city parallel to Saint Petersburg, the author’s hometown, the story revolves around three main characters - Evan, Michael, and Madame Verona. At the time of work on the novel, there were no such things as gay rights in Russia. Nevertheless, there were no anti-gay propaganda laws, either, like those in power nowadays. To be open or live in a closet was a matter of great courage and self-acceptance.
While Evan has already accepted himself as a gay person, Michael is only on his way to do it. They are north and south, with Madame Verona in between, an observer discovering new truths of life through her own prejudices and rose-colored ornaments.
WITHOUT ORNAMENTS
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CONTEMPORARY GAY FICTION
If you Google contemporary gay fiction, the engine returns a list of ten titles. At the top is A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara - the only one of the ten that I have read and it happened a few years ago. At the time, I was a member of a local state-run library with shelves of English books and magazines. Take my word, it was a librarian who suggested this book here in St Petersburg, Russia.
Many days have passed since I took the risk of printing a few hundred copies of Truth with Ornaments in Russian. I look back and remember a phone call to the Singer House, also known as…
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BETWEEN LOCKSHIN'S MASTER AND MARGARITA
There are many reviews of the latest version of The Master and Margarita on the internet. Some of them by reviewers who haven’t even read this Bulgakov's all-time classic and are therefore unaware with the facts about this controversial novel, which was banned during some period of the Soviet regime. Yet they post bla-bla-bla. Just like Donald Trump does - a master of bla-bla-bla in every area possible; a year ago it was less likely that he would rekindle from the political embers; the former president doesn't seem to burn just as manuscripts don't burn, according to the famous quote…
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PERSONAL GAY TRUTH
This publication is only intended for LGBTQ readers who have reached the age of consent.
Some time ago, it became illegal in Russia to distribute and promote LGBTQ-related content, from books to films. As a result, many titles were removed from media…