…The four words of Anna Starobinets on Facebook — “Sasha died. There is no God”. Four words, and behind them eternity — a feat of love and loyalty, struggle with a severe illness, flight-flight-flight… out of time, citizenship and slippery ridiculous words. In 2015 the writer, journalist and cultural scientist Alexander Garros was diagnosed with cancer. And now his heroic marathon came to an end: at the age of 41 he died in Israel.

Alexander Garros. Frame of video in the Polaris Lv.

I do not want hypocrisy in the words, you do not want any critiques of his creations — be it “[Magic]breaking” (co-authored with Alexei Yevdokimov), for which he was taken “national bestseller” in 2003, whether it is the “Juche” and other novels. This is not about that. Now about the main thing. And most importantly will they say is eligible. Dmitry Bykov.

Garros was bright and urgent, so scared I have to put an end.. .

— First of all, Garros — was a man with absolute taste and absolute sense. And in recent years more he was known not as a co-author Evdokimov (Evdokimov now has one), but as a scholar: his article about the cultural situation, which are now included in the book “Untranslatable play of words” is an absolute aesthetic tuning-fork. But, in addition, Garros was probably one of the best people I knew.

— From a purely human point of view…

— Yes, it is clean, exemplary harmonious. He was the last child of the Soviet era, and to me very painful to know that he was a man without citizenship. Because he was born in Belarus, was a Georgian by his father, the greater part of his life in the Baltic States (and worked there a lot), then moved to Moscow, then lived two years in Barcelona. He was a man of the world, and, on the one hand, this is good, because this cosmopolitanism gave him the opportunity to see and much to experience. On the other hand, he was a homeless man — in the sense of the metaphysical. Because the Soviet Union was his homeland; the country of such completely new people, which appeared at the end of its existence… And he died in Israel because there were treated. And these his wandering around the map — don’t know whether they were easy for him, but you know what bureaucratic problems with the citizenship had been pestering him.

— With all of its nuances and mind…

— In General he was a citizen of that country yet. I know a lot of people — people are too good and too smart to belong to any one tribe, or to any one generation or to any one belief. He was much broader and smarter than this. And, of course, an absolute miracle is that with Anna Starobinets this two-year tragedy they have lived the people managed to live it so publicly, telling all about her… Anya led Facebook detailed chronicle of his illness. And led not because she hoped for sympathy, but because she has a sincere belief that tragedy is necessary to make the property of the people, that they (the people) has made it easier, that they ceased to hide their internal drama. They lived the hardest two years on people, and I don’t know who else could have; it is something incredible — the behavior on the verge of a feat, on the verge of self-sacrifice. Some analogy can be found… only in the era of European modernism.

— That’s the life wide open…

— The absolute. They did not hide Sasha’s illness, nor the deterioration of his condition; that his dying was described in detail by both of them. And it’s not exhibitionism. It is a feat of love. They managed to turn this into a feat of love. Because now many of those who hide their suffering, who experiences them alone — they too will now be able to understand that they are not alone in the world. This is, in my opinion, the most significant contribution Garros and Starobinets in our lives. They were not afraid of their tragedy to live in front of us. It’s terrible, of course. Because I knew all this as their longtime friend. And the mass of the strangers watched, read Anya’s diary, Sasha’s diary, watched as their children’s live (they have two children), and it’s all very painful. And how Anya extended Sasha’s life, as she completely submitted himself to its interests, is a feat. May God give her strength.