Polk podcast: A verbal portrait is one of the most famous literary techniques . Why do writers tell us in detail about the appearance of their characters? How did their work reflect their feelings about their own appearance and clothing? Mayakovsky's yellow jacket, Akhmatova's uncurled bangs and much more .
On the eve of the New Year, the editors of "Shelf" gathered in the Moscow club "Dom 16" to discuss book results and trends in 2021 . Autofiction and poetry, censorship and the return of the historical novel, publishing projects and the boom of non-fiction about nature .
"Shelf" discusses the work of literary memory: how the authors of memoirs preserve the details of literary life and what it means to "lie like an eyewitness" in relation to texts about Akhmatova and Mandelstam, Mayakovsky and Yesenin . How do some memoirists create myths about great writers, while others debunk these myths?