Having become a star of Russian intellectual prose in the early 90s, Marina Paley suddenly emigrated — from Russia and, as it seemed to many, from literature.
Having become a star of Russian intellectual prose in the early 90s, Marina Paley suddenly emigrated — from Russia and, as it seemed to many, from literature. Clemens, her first novel after a long silence, is the result of the writer’s complex spiritual quest. Mike, a young interpreter from St. Petersburg, a Jew and a cosmopolitan, at the level of genetic memory, nevertheless, keeps the memory of the Holocaust, which destroyed part of his family. Clemens — a XNUMX% young German, the embodiment of the Aryan spirit — moves into Mike’s apartment as a not too desirable tenant, but remains as a lover, friend, enemy and, most importantly, an object of all-consuming passion. However, the provocative homosexual intrigue is only the very tip of the iceberg called «Clemens» by Marina Paley. Stylistically impeccable, exciting, thoroughly permeated with eros, the novel of the writer is a true hymn to strong feelings. It has a hypnotic effect on the reader, sharpening our perception of reality to the limit and forcing us to remember that true passion, no matter how lawless and wild it may seem to others, always brings us closer to our deepest essence.
Marina Paley «Clemens», Time, 464 p.