A dim lit cafe was where we met, waiting for Fyodor.  His time is scarce, we know too well, and the rapid snowflakes outside the window that touch the ground and melt immediately keep us alert to be fast with our questions and aware of the transiency of the moment. There’s a saying that a genius should not be rushed, so the two of us brainstorm together quickly in order not to rush him with questions once he is there.  My friend starts, ”There was, a brilliant Russian TV show called, guess what, Dostoevsky,  I saw it some time ago. They portrayed his appearance and nature so well there that I realized that a true writer cannot hide himself  or disassociate himself completely from his work. I mean, a sinner cannot describe a sinner in so many details if  he is not a sinner himself or does not know the sinner’s behaviour  inside out, like being in the sinner’s shoes for a long time.”

”I wonder how he looks in person,” I begin to think aloud. ”It’s interesting you mention this, as I noticed the same thing in his work: most importantly he left a mark of himself  in all his characters. He  could go inside his characters’ mind so well, notice the finest details in their apppearance, so that a reader also starts to connect a suspicious physical trait or accessories with that person’s personality malfunction.”  My friend continues, ” Yeah, I remember, in Crime and Punishment, Raskolynikov’s slightly pointed hat fitted his mysterious demeanor perfectly. Come to think of it, Dostoevsky is a person aware of his demons, not afraid to accept that he could be terrible towards his close people because of gambling and other instincts and that he could be looked upon the world as a loner. Still, he was described as a very charismatic, passionate man, while his intellect and eloquence drew women towards him so much that he would not mind ”erasing” earlier woman and replacing them with the new fascinating female creatures, completely unrestrained as he was. I think  why we (this generation and many generations afterwards) will read him over and over again, is because all his characters are extremely well carved in their psychological profile, and yet, at the same time, they are beyond the era when they were created. They could exist in any country or time in the world. Even right now. And what’s more, they do exist now.”

”Oh, there he is,” I utter in a low voice as a man appears, carrying the mist and the night on his coat. ”Pardon me for keeping you waiting,” he says meekly, ”it’s a bit challenging with book publishers. I can tell you, my friends, what I realized. Many of my books are big in volume so that I can pay off my gambling debts. The more pages the readers absorbe, the better payment I get.” ”Well, we went through those numerous pages in our school,” we answer puzzled by the artist’s completely candid monetizing attitude.  ”And this is where the turn in the story happens,” he continues and his face suddenly beams, ”you do read about the crime on the 100th page, develop an opinion about, let’s say Raskolynikov, and then you have a long, long way to go until the book’s end. You then ask yourself… about myself, ”why Fyodor, why, have you written so lengthy?” And the answer, my friends is, because it is easy to do the crime and write about the crime early on. What is difficult to swallow and what causes trouble is… what comes afterwards, all the post-crime processes in our mind and activities in our surroundings.”

”Fyodor, may I ask you something?,” an idealist in myself awakens. ”Can we have heroes in our 21st century and who they are?”

”Friends, you have to understand one peculiar aspect of human nature. The evil exists constantly, throughout all times, and will continue to do so. This everlasting fight between the good and the evil dwells  in every single person.  The question is whether I will be strong or gamble away what I earned or whether while pursuing my dream I will compromize it for a short-time pleasure. Many a time I felt every mistake on my own skin, I sinned towards my beloved ones, I had to sell the objects from my own house. But you know what, the God’s mercy had saved me, I learnt from  my home,  though it was bedlam at times and such things always gave me strength. I once wrote and still think so… One sinner is more amiable to the God if he has repented for his misbehaviour, than 100 perfect men who never made a mistake. Heroes are those who find the strength and know that goodness and beauty will save the world.”

”There are so many different characters in your novels, from all walks of life and generations,” my friend asks. ”Yet, they all seem to pursue or are tormented by the similar motives: love, money, happiness, the meaning of life. Can you tell us about the commonalities of your diverse characters?”

”You’ve got a point here. All my characters, different in their backgroud, are being similarly followed throughout my novels because I track their psychological processes. Your generation has many Dreamers, like that main character of mine from White Nights. You Dreamers, often think in film and music videos, so try to imagine: in my writing I am directing a movie from inside and outside of my characters’ perspectives.  The exact category of my people is irrelevant: there are gamblers,  poor people, a violent father, a woman dreaming of love living in the life mud, the brothers fighting over the inheritance. What matters is that the picture of evil within the man is universal and we should beware of that bare human truth. Inside us there is the unavoidable fight whether to be loved, how much money is enough for happiness in the modern society. You know, such desires can lead to many life-shaking, extreme questions and deeds: who has more rights to kill a father, how to deal with addiction, is the family treasure really hidden in a mattress. And when it comes to women, you, lovely, passionate creatures, you can destroy someone’s life or turn it into a heaven. I should have known that better as I was deprieved of my lover’s Pauline affection,  ran to her embrace constantly. And before her I draw my first wife, who was so full of understanding and graceful, to myself and then simply spoilt something that could have been a good story, actually even destroyed her life. Man, so long he remains free, has no more constant and agonizing anxiety than find as quickly as possible someone to worship. I think that a truly beautiful woman is not only physically graceful and strong, she is aware of her riches, but at the same she consoles in her embrace; she is a moral support indeed, aware of the God’s laws, justice, human temptations and forgiveness.

When: 26 Nov 2011 from 3:00 PM until 11:00 PM

Where: St John’s College, Cambridge,

The Seventh Professor Dame Elizabeth Hill Memorial Lecture

Winstanley Theatre, Trinity College

Thursday, 20th October 2011, 5:30-7:00pm

Declan Donnellan is joint founder of Cheek by Jowl with Nick Ormerod, and joint Artistic Director of the Company. Cheek by Jowl was described by The Independent in 1990 as the company to have had the most significant influence on British Theatre in the 1980s. The company has been Artistic Associate at the Barbican Theatre London since 2006.

Donnellan’s unique relationship with Russia goes back over twenty five years. He has adapted Russian plays (The Mandate by Erdman and Masquerade by Lermontov) for the British stage. He has also directed The Winter’s Tale for the Malyi Theatre of St Petersburg and Romeo and Juliet for the Bolshoi Ballet. In 1999, the Russian Theatre Foundation invited him to form a Moscow counterpart to Cheek By Jowl. This company’s Russian-language productions of Twelfth Night, Boris Godunov, Three Sisters and The Tempest now represent Russia at major International festivals and have enjoyed significant critical acclaim. Donnellan’s book The Actor and The Target was first published in Russian and has since appeared in over a dozen languages.

Declan will be discussing his experiences of working in Russia, and with Russian actors; he will also talk about the place of Russian drama in the London/UK theatre repertoire, and its meanings for British audiences.

This event is free and open to the public, and will be followed by a wine reception.

Cambridge University Russian Society together with the Department of Slavonic Studies of Cambridge University are delighted to invite you to two events with renowned Russian intellectual, writer, poet and journalist Dmitry Bykov:

Dear Sir or Madam,

McKinsey & Company is a global partnership with over 8,000 consultants in more than 90 offices and over 50 countries. At McKinsey, we help world-leading clients in the public, private and third sector to meet their biggest strategic, operational and organisational challenges.

As a consultant in our firm, you have the opportunity to work with colleagues and clients from all around the world. You come into contact with CEOs, government leaders and the foremost charitable organisations, and work together with them on their most exciting and challenging issues. And you will build core skills that will serve you well throughout your professional career, whether that be in the business sphere, the non-profit sphere, the public sphere – or a combination of all three.

If you would like to find out more about opportunities in Moscow and are fluent in Russian, we would encourage you to attend our McKinsey Moscow office presentation & cocktail evening.

Date & time: Friday 30 September, 7pm

Venue: One Great George Street, London SW1P 3AA (http://www.onegreatgeorgestreet.com/)

Dress code: Business casual

During the presentation you will have the opportunity to meet our senior consultants and ask them about their McKinsey experience, the types of client studies we do in the Moscow office, our approach to work, and anything else you would like to know about McKinsey or management consulting in general. We will also outline career opportunities at McKinsey and the recruitment process. Please be informed that the presentation will be delivered in the Russian language.

Please register your attendance by 26 September 2011: www.mckinsey.com/gapd-events

We hope you can join us and look forward to meeting you!

Kind regards,

McKinsey Moscow/Kiev office Recruiting Team