At "Podpisnye Izdaniya," a famous independent bookstore in St. Petersburg, Alexey Konakov presented the Russian translation of my book *Paternoster*. I am grateful to him for this. In return, I will attempt to write about Konakov’s latest book—Tabia Thirty-Two (Табия тридцать два), published in 2025—by an author who describes himself as a "Soviet engineer" (the sort of engineer who does the exact opposite of his intended job; for instance, he writes novels). Genre-wise, the book is classified as dystopian sci-fi—likely just so it could be published and sold, albeit shrink-wrapped and marked 18+. The story unfolds after the army of a neighboring country inflicts a crushing military defeat on Russia; consequently, the nation becomes completely isolated from the Western world, and the UN imposes a strict, century-long quarantine. A radical internal transformation begins, referred to in the book as the "Refounding" (Переучреждение). The new state’s ideologues conclude that classical Russian literature is to blame for every historical calamity. The works of Pushkin, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Lermontov are banned and burned. Chess takes the place of literature, becoming the foundation of culture, science, education, and everyday morality. In schools, students analyze and memorize the famous games of Botvinnik, Kasparov, Spassky, and Karpov instead of Dostoevsky. Society firmly believes that the pure, objective logic of chess will liberate them from the sins of the past. Alexei Konakov’s novel has not yet been translated into Hungarian, but I have the signed copy right here; I would gladly lend it to a determined translator or a brave publisher.
