Vasily Aksyonov: Colleagues. A Ticket to the Stars

A physician by education, an "anti-Soviet" in spirit, and the most brilliant innovator in 20th-century Russian prose, Aksyonov outlined the themes and problems that would preoccupy him throughout his mature creative period from the very beginning of his career. Aksyonov's first novellas laid the foundation for the so-called "youth prose" of the USSR. It was then that the term "sixtiers" first appeared, becoming the designation for an entire generation and era. The problem of conformism and loyalty to the regime, the readiness to compromise one's principles and career prospects for the sake of friendship—all of this would remain in Aksyonov's prose years later. But no one would write about it better than someone who encountered it for the first time, was young, and desperately believed in justice...

"Colleagues" follows three young friends: Sashka Zelenin, Vladka Karpov, and Leshka Maksimov. After receiving their assignments following graduation from the Leningrad Medical Institute, the young men end up in different and rather unusual workplaces. This is where real adult life begins: with their first serious love and the search for the one true path.

The novel "Ticket to the Stars" is the story of two brothers, Viktor and Dmitry Denisov. Between them lies an 11-year age gap and a chasm in their understanding of one another. While Viktor, his parents' pride and joy, prepares to defend his doctoral dissertation, Dmitry runs away from home in search of his own calling…

Author: Vasily Aksyonov

Pages: 480 (typographical). Paperback

Dimensions: 116x180 mm

Series: Exclusive Classics