Ilya Stogoff

Sinners

Part one

From the Leningrad "Rock Club" to the TaMtAm club

Yesterday we were looking for freedom again -
Almost exceeded the dose -
I!
I'm starting!
War!

Group "Psyche"

A man from the tribe of Levi went and took a wife from the same tribe. The wife conceived and gave birth to a son.

Book "Exodus"

Seva Gakkel (b. 1958) - former cellist of the Aquarium group

In the fall of 1988, for the first time in my life, I left the USSR and went to the USA.

I flew to New York with a connection in Ireland. When in Dublin, at Shannon Airport, passengers began to load onto the plane of the Irish company, it suddenly became clear that there were not enough seats on it and twelve people had to stay in Ireland for a day. Of course I was included in this number.

An Aeroflot representative said that it was the Irish’s fault and immediately leaked it. I stayed in the company of my compatriots. None of them spoke English. Everyone clung to me like a life preserver. We were taken to a hotel in the nearest town, and I had to accommodate and feed everyone. I arrived in New York only the next day. There I was surprised to see that Sergei Kuryokhin was meeting me.

We knew Kuryokhin for a hundred years, but we never communicated together - only in large companies. And now it turns out that we have a lot in common. We hung around the city, went to visit people, and on the second day of our stay in New York we wandered into the Village Vanguard club. It was the Mecca of jazz. All the monsters have played there since time immemorial. I suffered from jet lag and spent almost the entire concert nodding off. But the place itself delighted me: a small basement in which there was not even a wardrobe, and the stage could hardly accommodate a piano and drums.

A little later, my American friend David Shirley invited me to go to the Knitting Factory club. The Peter Gordon Orchestra performed there. The place turned out to be even smaller than Village Vanguard. We sat at a table right in front of the stage. I was completely blown away by the sound of a live orchestra. I had, of course, never been to a music club before. This was a completely new feeling for me.

The time spent in New York brought Kuryokhin and I closer. After I returned home, we began to see each other every day. It was one of the last winters of the Soviet Union. It was dark and cold. We went for a walk around the city, and then went to my place, on Vosstaniya Street, to drink tea. We dreamed: it would be great if there was a club like the Knitting Factory in Leningrad! Then we both understood that this was unrealistic.

In the spring of 1989, a friend called me. He said that one of his acquaintances from Vilnius brought an English group and did not know what to do with it. I agreed to drive up to the building of the Leningrad Youth Palace (LDM). There we were introduced to the group World Domination Enterprises. The organization was in complete chaos. I was asked to chat with them.

The first question the musicians asked me was where can I get herbs? I've never done this before and haven't smoked for several years. But of course this problem was not difficult to solve. In the evening I called Kuryokhin, and we went to visit friends. The musicians were very pleased with their day.

The next day there was a concert in the Great Hall of the LDM. There were no people at all. World Domination Enterprises brought with them hundred-watt amplifiers, and the guitarist had a door handle screwed to the body of the guitar instead of a bridge. It was 100% English punk rock. I was absolutely delighted with the performance. There was not a single punk in the hall, and it turned out that I (far from a punk) was the only person who could appreciate all this.

A month later, the same acquaintance called me and asked me to meet the American group Sonic Youth. There was a whole horde of them. They came with their wives and children. Since there was absolutely nowhere to go, we just walked around the city.

The next morning I was asked to go with them to the Cinema House. The television was supposed to come there to film the interview. Sitting in the restaurant, we waited for the TV crew for four hours. At this time of day, you could only order capital salad and sandwiches with sausage. Half of the guests, like me, were vegetarians. I felt extremely awkward.

The next day, Sonic Youth performed at the same LDM. The concert made a stunning impression on me. The sound of the group was completely atomic. The sound was so dense and they created such tension that I was simply pressed into the chair. Guitarists Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo each brought ten guitars with them. They changed them almost every song. The point was that these guitars had different sounds and were tuned differently. But the power of the device was not enough, and there were almost no people in the hall. The musicians were very unhappy. Kim Gordon just cried after the concert.

At the end of summer or already in the fall, Tropillo organized a rock festival for the Aurora magazine on Elagin Island. I got on my bike and out of curiosity decided to go there. To my surprise, I learned that Grebenshchikov was to perform that evening. Bob was completely out of context of the festival, almost no one paid attention to his performance, and I don’t understand why he agreed.

When everyone had played, we went to Bob’s house: he promised to lend me some money for a trip around America. Soon I left for New York, from there I went to San Francisco, then to Washington, and then returned back to New York. In each of these cities I visited music clubs. When I returned, I was haunted by a fixed idea: why are there still no such clubs in the city where I live?

We still saw Kuryokhin often. At this time, actress Vera Glagoleva was filming her first movie as a director. She invited Kuryokhin to write music. He introduced me to her and began encouraging me to star in this movie. According to the script, there was the role of a party musician, and, as Kuryokhin believed, I was suitable for it in all respects. I was surrounded from all sides, and I surrendered.

In one episode I had to recreate the atmosphere of an underground session. For this we chose the premises of the Goroshevsky Theater. Then they lived in a squat on Chernyshevsky Avenue. We brought a couple of amps and a drum kit with us. I whistled for my friends, and they, in turn, whistled for theirs. About fifty people came - not a lot, but quite enough for such a place.

Actually, only one episode needed to be filmed. But gradually it turned into a real jam session. Everyone took turns playing. I don’t know how it is from the point of view of the film, but I was inspired by the fact that musicians who had long been accustomed to large audiences actually missed small spaces. I unexpectedly found the key to what I spied at the Knitting Factory. The club turned out to be possible. There was a basis for this.

The following spring, 1990, Grebenshchikov came again. He had been living in London and New York for several months. He invited me to come visit him. I didn't mind. London beckoned to me, as it did to any person who grew up listening to The Beatles, and indeed in general.

Bob met me at Heathrow airport and took me to his place. He lived on Albion Street just opposite Hyde Park. Bob gave me pocket money. I was hanging around the city. In the evenings we rented some movies and had a great time. At the same time, I could not understand: why did he invite me? Bob asked to take the cello with us, and I thought that maybe if he was in the mood, we would play, but the mood never came.

I lived in a sleeping bag on a heated floor in a walk-through room. Early in the morning, Bob’s children, Mark and Vasilisa, ran to me from the second floor. They started to laugh and turned on cartoons. I had to get up and take care of the housework. After a while I got a little tired of all this. Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics kindly invited me to stay on his boat on the Canal. I agreed.

I don’t know exactly what this floating craft is called, it’s a typical London vessel, looking like a long apartment on the water. We still spent the entire day with Bob. I only went there to spend the night. I arrived on a bicycle, removed the casing from the vessel, which had been hot during the day, and opened all the windows. There was probably something wrong with the engine, and there was such a smell of diesel fuel that I felt like I was living in a gas station. Only in the morning, when the vessel had cooled down, did I finally fall asleep.

I lived like this for a whole month. During this time, I went to a David Bowie concert, and after some time, to a concert by The Rolling Stones. In addition, we were able to watch the Dread Zeppelin concert at the legendary Marquee club. The singer was dressed as Elvis Presley and sang Led Zeppelin reggae songs. The bassist, wearing only swimming trunks and a waist-high hairdress, stood on such a small twenty-watt amp. The drummer played a mini drum kit. It was hilarious to watch all this.

After leaving school, Ilya Stogov changed many professions: he worked as a salesman of sports bicycles, a street currency exchanger, a school teacher, a cleaner in a Berlin cinema, the editor-in-chief of an erotic magazine, a translator, a press secretary in a casino, a security guard, an editor at a Catholic radio station, a music reviewer and a bartender. . In total, he worked in mass media for more than 15 years. In addition, he received theological education and a master's degree.

At the end of 1997-1998, the writer’s first novels were published: “The Emperor’s Skull” and “Kamikaze”. After this, Ilya Stogov turned to the genre of men's prose - his novel “Macho Men Don't Cry” became a bestseller, and the author himself was named writer of the year (2001). The following books, “13 Months” and “mASIAfucker,” also gained popularity among readers. In addition to works of fiction, Ilya Stogov created several documentary novels and essays - “How World History Works”, “Revolution Now!”, “The Fourth Wave”, “Sinners” and others.

The writer's books have been translated into fifteen European and Asian languages. The total circulation in Russia is about 1 million 400 thousand copies.
In 2003, he participated in the recording of one of the albums of the group “Bi-2”. In 2004-2006, Stogov acted as artistic director of the television program “Week in the Big City” (Channel 5).
Married, two children.

In 1999, Ilya Stogov was recognized as “Journalist of the Year”. In 2001, the Komersant newspaper nominated him for the title “Person of the Year,” with the wording “For creating the genre of men’s literature.” For the novel "Macho Men Don't Cry" in 2001 he was named "Writer of the Year", and the novel itself was noted as "Novel of the Year". A series of pocket guides received the Grand Prize of the Petropol Art Prize in 2003. In 2003 and 2007 he was nominated for the National Bestseller literary award, and in 2008 for the Man of the Book award and the Big Book award.

Based on the results of 2004, he received the “Television Debut of the Year” award for the “Week in the City” program. She was nominated for the Teffi Award, and at the VII Eurasian Television Forum 2005 she was recognized as the “Best Entertainment Project of the CIS”.

In 1995, Ilya Stogov represented Russia at the V World Forum of Catholic Youth in Manila (Philippines) and, as part of this event, received an audience with Pope John Paul II.

Ilya Yuryevich STOGOV: interview

When the St. Petersburg writer Ilya Stogov was just beginning his literary career in the mid-90s, some at the Amphora publishing house doubted: would he go, would they read him? Time has shown that Stogov not only went, but went with a bang. To date, Ilya has published more than thirty books, the total circulation of which has long exceeded one million. However, Stogov doesn’t have that many actual “writer’s” books. Perhaps the most sensational of them is the novel “Macho Men Don’t Cry,” after which Stogov’s name began to sound not only in St. Petersburg. Most of what Ilya wrote can be classified as a journalistic genre - pocket guides to history, astronomy, religion, portraits of modern Russian rock musicians, essays and reports on trips abroad, etc. This despite the fact that Stogov has neither a journalistic nor a literary education. He is a Master of Theology. Believer of the Catholic Church.
Moreover, Ilya is a convinced Catholic: the “Catholic” view of Russian reality is undoubtedly felt in all his works.
Before becoming a writer, Stogov changed a dozen professions, including a bicycle salesman, a street currency exchanger, a security guard, a cinema cleaner, and a school teacher.

At the beginning of our conversation, I asked Ilya if he had a desire to quit the routine work at the keyboard for a while and remember his youth?
“Who told you,” the writer answers, “that my job is to sit at the keyboard?” The good thing about being a writer is that it allows you to constantly change your role. The year before last I wrote about the latest wave of Russian rock and roll. And for this, I got a job as a stagehand in one of the groups and traveled half the country with the guys. And in the past I wrote about archaeologists: I spent the whole summer on excavations. Over the past five years, I have changed half a dozen professions in this way: I went with the police to make arrests, in India I helped cremate the dead, I hosted a radio program, and I did everything else.

— Ilya, you have published about thirty books. And yet you continue to engage in journalism. Why? In general, can a writer survive without journalism now?
- You see, I never called myself a writer. Heir to the traditions of Dostoevsky and Chekhov. I write non-fiction and documentary novels not out of poverty, not because I want to make money, but because that’s the only thing that interests me. I actually think that we live in a wildly interesting era. And to miss at least something, not to record it in time, means to impoverish the nation’s cultural piggy bank. I am interested in guest workers, and Moscow billionaires with their long-legged companions, and domestic hip-hop, and the life of Orthodox monasteries, and whether there will be a war with Georgia, and in general everything that happens every day. But putting all this into the form of a novel is not at all interesting to me.

These dishes should be served as is: smelling of street truth. And not to shove antediluvian novel forms into dead ones. Therefore, I personally cannot survive without journalism. And I’m not ashamed of this, but on the contrary, I’m puffed up with pride.

— Didn’t you want to go to Moscow for a long journalistic ruble?
- I, you know, am a St. Petersburger. I think my city is the only one in the country where moving to Moscow is viewed not as a step in growth, but as a hopeless fall from grace. And if you really want long rubles, then you can write for rich Muscovites without leaving my own city.

— What is this story with the failed film adaptation of your novel in the kingdom of Bhutan?
- No no. It was not Bhutanese filmmakers who tried to film it, but ours, but in Bhutan. This, if you don’t know, is somewhere in East Asia. The company that bought the film rights grabbed a large budget and, as I understand it, planned to cut it thoroughly. In general, people come with proposals for film adaptations all the time. I don’t refuse anyone, but I’ve never gotten around to a finished painting. In my opinion, Russian cinema is such a self-sufficient world that neither the viewer nor anyone else needs it. They find money, live on it and talk about their successes on TV. There is no time left to fool around with filming pictures.

—Which of your books do you consider the most successful?
“And I don’t have anyone I don’t like: they’re all good.” If we count by the number of copies sold, then two are approaching half a million: “Machos Don’t Cry” and mASIAfucker. If for some personal feeling, then I value a little book that went almost unnoticed: “The Passion of Christ.” It seems to me that there I was able to find words that had not yet been used in Russian about the suffering of the Savior.

— Did the critics appreciate it?
— What has Russian criticism ever appreciated? Critics live in their own world, writers in their own, and readers live in places where both of these worlds have never been heard of. Have you personally seen at least one adequate review of at least one of the main modern books? Starting with “Chapaev and Emptiness” and ending with Minaev’s “Spiritless”? Who was able to conduct a clear analysis of the novels written by me or Oksana Robski? Critics need to get off Olympus and see what people are actually reading today. And if so, then is it surprising that the weight of criticism today is not even zero, but some negative values.

— How do you feel about literary hackwork?
- What do you have in mind? Thank God, I don’t have to “hack” (in the sense of writing contrary to my own desires for the sake of money). I never wanted to earn a lot. On the contrary, I think that it is worth refusing big earnings: this will help preserve the human appearance. Several years ago, colleagues of businessman Oleg Tinkov wanted to give him a gift for his anniversary and tried to order me his biography. Moreover, so much money was offered that at that time I could buy an apartment. But why do I need another apartment? Clear-red I refused. As for the unauthorized use of my texts, I also don’t mind. All my novels are on the Internet and distributed as audiobooks. In neither case, I again do not receive money, and I do not want to receive it.

— Many people do not understand your passion for Catholicism. How did a person involved in the St. Petersburg underground suddenly come to the Catholic faith? Maybe someone from your family influenced you?
“I wouldn’t call my relationship with the Catholic Church a “hobby.” For me, this is a conscious and thoughtful step. I am absolutely Russian by nationality: my peasant grandparents had names like Ivan or Evdokia and could barely even write. And, of course, at first I was going to be baptized in the Orthodox Church. I think that if a guy like me had found at least some place there, at least some chance to catch on and hold on, then I would still have become Orthodox. But, without breaking myself, without ceasing to be myself, I never managed to enter the fold of the Russian Orthodox Church. And “Catholic” is translated like this: “universal”. There was a place in this church even for someone like me.

— How do your littsekh colleagues feel about your religion? Were there any misunderstandings or clashes on this basis?
- Who cares? And then St. Petersburg is a cosmopolitan city. In Moscow the issue of religion can be discussed, but here we cannot.

— Do you, as a Catholic, have any complaints about Russian literature?
— As a reader, I have complaints about modern Russian literature. Prizes, thick magazines, critiques, a lot of writers. Where are the real achievements? All these modern novels are of interest to a very narrow circle of connoisseurs. Like, say, Latin American dancing. Well, yes: it seems like something is happening. But, on the other hand, this is not at all interesting to anyone except the participants in the process.

— Do you have any relationships with the older generation of St. Petersburg writers? Who would you like to highlight?
- You see, I didn’t grow up on the novels of our “hillbillies”, but on the detective stories of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. Soviet writers have never been an authority for me. So I don't have any relationship with them. Of the professional writers, I communicate only with the so-called “St. Petersburg fundamentalists” (Krusanov, Nosov, Sekatsky). Previously, when I was still drinking alcohol, it was nice to cut myself half to death with these guys and then discuss how it all went. And so: the collapse of the USSR is a watershed. Those who remained on the other side will never come here to us. In general, I have nothing to talk about with classics like Daniil Granin or Boris Strugatsky. Moreover, they most likely have no idea about my existence.

— Do you communicate with Vyacheslav Kuritsyn, who recently moved to St. Petersburg? Or are you not on the same page with former apologists of postmodernism?
— Vyacheslav Kuritsyn has been drinking so heavily lately that it’s really difficult to communicate with him. In general, there are no non-drinkers among writers. But not everyone can drink like Slava.

— According to your personal feelings, is literary life in the city today a boiling cauldron or a stagnant swamp?
- There is no single life. There are thousands of tiny worlds: poets read poetry to each other, playwrights rush around with plays to directors, essayists extort fees from magazines, novelists drink vodka and twirl their mustaches. If someone starts telling you that not much happens in St. Petersburg, it means that he simply ended up in the wrong world.

— According to you, a person reads until he is thirty, and then only re-reads. I wonder what you are re-reading today?
- I just continue reading. Every week I discover something new. And from what I re-read over the past year, the one who truly shocked me was Korotkevich, who once wrote “The Wild Hunt of King Stakh.” I reread it and was amazed: the real Belarusian Umberto Eco. And completely underrated!

— Which of the Russian literary awards, in your opinion, is the most prestigious and not biased? In other words, what prize do you dream of winning?
— You know, about a hundred years ago Kipling was going to be awarded some wildly honorable British order. And for this they even invited him to an audience with the king. However, he refused and wrote on the invitation: “Your Majesty! Let me live and die simply as Kipling." Modern literary awards cause me nothing but despondency. Neither National Best, nor the Big Book, nor even more so the ridiculous Russian Booker. The jury of these awards missed everything that was interesting for last years. The prize was not given to Robski, Alexey Ivanov, Krusanov, or Danilkin. And if they gave it to Bykov and Prilepin, it was for some completely absurd books. So personally, I would like to live and die simply as Ilya Stogov.

— Judging by your statements, the main drawback of Russia is the lack of freedom in it. How do you manage to live in captivity for so many years? Reveal the secret.
“I don’t think I phrased it exactly like that.” Who is silencing the press today? Who tramples my civil rights into the asphalt with forged boots? Nobody! Recently, for the sake of sport, I went to a political rally for the first time in my life. Please! Shout as much as you like! Another thing is that three and a quarter people took part in this rally. It's not about freedom, but about total indifference. Russians have always delegated their rights to the top without any doubt: decide for yourself, I don’t care. If they tell me to go to war, I’ll go and die. If they tell me to go to a rally, I’ll go there too. If they tell me to disperse the same rally, I will disperse it. Indifference and humility, Asian contempt for life (both one’s own and that of others) is what seriously surprises me in my own country.

— By the way, you have visited about fifty countries. Which state, according to your observations, has the most freedom?
- I think more than fifty. Although I never counted it. But measuring freedom by countries is, in my opinion, a dubious idea. Countries are not free, only individuals are. It is believed, for example, that representatives of the Leningrad underground (all these Brodskys and Dovlatovs) lived under conditions of harsh communist pressure. However, these people were absolutely free. So free, as neither today's Russians nor today's Americans have ever dreamed of.

— You have written many books about Russian rock music. What bands will you still be listening to in twenty years?
“You know, when I was fifteen years old, I listened to those who were then in their early twenties, and they seemed like creepy old men to me.” And today I’m almost forty and I already seem like an old man at rock and roll concerts. But at the same time, I prefer to listen to those who, again, are in their early twenties. It is there that the heart of Russian poetry beats today: Feo from the group “Psyche” and Assai from the group “Krec” speak words about today’s world that you will not find anywhere else. I hope that when I reach sixty, I will still start listening to the guys who will then be in their early twenties.

— What new book are you going to launch at the autumn Moscow book fair?
“What I’ve never thought about is timing the release of any of my books to coincide with the fair.” It's more like Moscow. Let my publisher think about advertising strategies and good sales. It will be enough for me to think that the book itself is good.

— In one of your recent speeches in the newspaper “Metro - St. Petersburg” you once complained that (I quote verbatim) “the two thousandth turned out to be a hangover. My eyelid is completely drained." What is the reason for such a pessimistic statement?
“I recently went to South America, and when I returned, it turned out that in the jungle I had picked up some very unpleasant infection. Everything seemed to work out fine, the tests were good, but throughout the past year I was constantly thinking about death. I'm almost forty. I didn't think I would live to this age. And if in childhood death seemed unimportant, insignificant, now I finally began to understand that we were talking about my own death. About the fact that other people will continue to live, and my personal body will be buried in the ground. This doesn't make me feel very happy.

— And yet, despite the hangover present, what are your plans and hopes for the future?- Don't know. In the near future I will go to Transcaucasia, and from there, probably, to Denmark. By September I’m thinking of launching another book series and maybe I’ll be able to make a radio program. And then, really, I don’t know. God will give you the day, God will give you food for thought.

The writer's books have been translated into fifteen European and Asian languages. The total circulation in Russia is about 1 million 400 thousand copies.

Biography

Childhood

Born in the center of St. Petersburg, in a house located on the Neva embankment. I went to first grade at school No. 185, where, in addition to Stogov, Mikhail Shats, Nikolai Perumov and Ksenia Sobchak studied at different times. However, two years later I had to leave school: Ilya’s family moved to Sakhalin Island. There his mother worked as a teacher for deaf and mute children, and the boy lived right in the boarding school at the school. After returning to St. Petersburg, Stogov moved to the very outskirts of the city, to the Kupchino district. There he continued his studies at school No. 303.

Youth

After finishing eight years of high school, Stogov studied at several vocational schools. In seven months, he changed four of them, and then, together with the Bravo group, he went on tour around the country. When he returned, he got a job as a salesman of sports bicycles and at the same time studied at a school for working youth. Later he worked as a leather cutter, a school teacher, a translator, a security guard and a bartender, but mostly he illegally exchanged currency for foreigners. In 1990, he tried to leave the country for the first time and went to West Berlin, where he witnessed the reunification of Germany.

He tried to enter the university four times, but each time he failed the entrance essay. As a result, in despair, he decides to leave for permanent residence in the United States. In August 1991, he received an American visa, but at the last moment he decided not to leave, but to make another attempt. And he enters the RKhGI (Russian Christian Humanitarian Institute).

Contrary to popular belief, Stogov never studied at the same university with Sergei Shnurov, but graduated from this particular educational institution. Has a Master of Divinity degree. Stogov’s scientific advisor was St. Petersburg State University professor Roman Svetlov (father of Amatory drummer Daniil Svetlov).

Journalist

Back in the late 1980s, Stogov began working as a journalist. His first place of work in this capacity was the largest music magazine of the late USSR, Rovesnik, and Stogov’s very first article was devoted to punk rock.

Since 1992, he has been trying to work in St. Petersburg daily newspapers. The most successful period was the period of cooperation with the publication “Smena”, where Andrei Konstantinov, Viktor Toporov, Dmitry Zhvania published in the same years. In the book, Tabloid claims to have been the only journalist to be interviewed by telephone by the 14th Dalai Lama.

In 1997, Stogov became the editor of the first glossy magazine in St. Petersburg, “The World of St. Petersburg.” At the same time, he has to work as a press secretary in a casino, as an editor for an erotic publishing house, and participate in TV projects and radio stations.

In 1999 he was named “Best Journalist in St. Petersburg.”

First novels

In 1997-1998, the writer’s first novels were published: “The Emperor’s Skull” and “Kamikaze”. Their output had no resonance. In Kamikaze, Stogov first touched upon the topic of political radicalism. He himself claims that at that time he was in a state of life crisis. He left his family, drank a lot and essentially lost his job. It was the young left-wing radicals with whom he communicated a lot during that period (in particular, A. Tsvetkov) who helped him get out of the crisis. Stogov never became a member of any political organization, however, he still admits to sympathizing with the “red” ideology.

Writer

The following year, Stogov wrote his most famous novel, “Macho Men Don’t Cry.” The author himself claims that the text was written in just nine days. However, Stogov has not been able to publish the novel for almost two years. In total, the novel was rejected by fourteen publishing houses. To obtain consent for publication, he gets a job at the Amphora publishing house as a press secretary and constantly reminds management about his novel.

During this period, Stogov became close to the literary group of St. Petersburg fundamentalists (Pavel Krusanov, Sergei Nosov, Alexander Sekatsky). However, their paths diverged very quickly.

Published in 2001, Macho Men Don't Cry immediately became a bestseller, and the author himself was named writer of the year. Stogov repeatedly said in interviews that these events coincided with the birth of his second child, after which he finally returned to his wife and stopped drinking alcohol.

The writer's books have been translated into fifteen European and Asian languages. The total circulation in Russia is about 1 million 400 thousand copies.

Biography

Childhood

Born in the center of St. Petersburg, in a house located on the Neva embankment. I went to first grade at school No. 185, where, in addition to Stogov, Mikhail Shats, Nikolai Perumov and Ksenia Sobchak studied at different times. However, two years later I had to leave school: Ilya’s family moved to Sakhalin Island. There his mother worked as a teacher for deaf and mute children, and the boy lived right in the boarding school at the school. After returning to St. Petersburg, Stogov moved to the very outskirts of the city, to the Kupchino district. There he continued his studies at school No. 303.

Youth

After finishing eight years of high school, Stogov studied at several vocational schools. In seven months, he changed four of them, and then, together with the Bravo group, he went on tour around the country. When he returned, he got a job as a salesman of sports bicycles and at the same time studied at a school for working youth. Later he worked as a leather cutter, a school teacher, a translator, a security guard and a bartender, but mostly he illegally exchanged currency for foreigners. In 1990, he tried to leave the country for the first time and went to West Berlin, where he witnessed the reunification of Germany.

He tried to enter the university four times, but each time he failed the entrance essay. As a result, in despair, he decides to leave for permanent residence in the United States. In August 1991, he received an American visa, but at the last moment he decided not to leave, but to make another attempt. And he enters the RKhGI (Russian Christian Humanitarian Institute).

Contrary to popular belief, Stogov never studied at the same university with Sergei Shnurov, but graduated from this particular educational institution. Has a Master of Divinity degree. Stogov’s scientific advisor was St. Petersburg State University professor Roman Svetlov (father of Amatory drummer Daniil Svetlov).

Journalist

Back in the late 1980s, Stogov began working as a journalist. His first place of work in this capacity was the largest music magazine of the late USSR, Rovesnik, and Stogov’s very first article was devoted to punk rock.

Since 1992, he has been trying to work in St. Petersburg daily newspapers. The most successful period was the period of cooperation with the publication “Smena”, where Andrei Konstantinov, Viktor Toporov, Dmitry Zhvania published in the same years. In the book, Tabloid claims to have been the only journalist to be interviewed by telephone by the 14th Dalai Lama.

In 1997, Stogov became the editor of the first glossy magazine in St. Petersburg, “The World of St. Petersburg.” At the same time, he has to work as a press secretary in a casino, as an editor for an erotic publishing house, and participate in TV projects and radio stations.

In 1999 he was named “Best Journalist in St. Petersburg.”

First novels

In 1997-1998, the writer’s first novels were published: “The Emperor’s Skull” and “Kamikaze”. Their output had no resonance. In Kamikaze, Stogov first touched upon the topic of political radicalism. He himself claims that at that time he was in a state of life crisis. He left his family, drank a lot and essentially lost his job. It was the young left-wing radicals with whom he communicated a lot during that period (in particular, A. Tsvetkov) who helped him get out of the crisis. Stogov never became a member of any political organization, however, he still admits to sympathizing with the “red” ideology.

Writer

The following year, Stogov wrote his most famous novel, “Macho Men Don’t Cry.” The author himself claims that the text was written in just nine days. However, Stogov has not been able to publish the novel for almost two years. In total, the novel was rejected by fourteen publishing houses. To obtain consent for publication, he gets a job at the Amphora publishing house as a press secretary and constantly reminds management about his novel.

During this period, Stogov became close to the literary group of St. Petersburg fundamentalists (Pavel Krusanov, Sergei Nosov, Alexander Sekatsky). However, their paths diverged very quickly.

Published in 2001, Macho Men Don't Cry immediately became a bestseller, and the author himself was named writer of the year. Stogov repeatedly said in interviews that these events coincided with the birth of his second child, after which he finally returned to his wife and stopped drinking alcohol.

At the same time, the largest domestic publishing house EKSMO showed interest in Stogov. Ilya’s next book (mASIAfucker) is published there, but just two years later, having unilaterally terminated the contract, Stogov returned to St. Petersburg and temporarily left writing and began collaborating with the Fifth Television Channel. There he receives several television awards (in particular, at the VII Eurasian Teleforum his project was named “Best Entertainment Show in the CIS”).

Editor

In 2006, Stogov quit television with a scandal and began to actively travel around the world. According to him, it was during this period that he traveled around the world. In parallel, during the same period, his most famous book project, “Stogoff Project,” began to be published. As part of this series, Stogov publishes books by authors who talk about what is happening “here and now.”

The style of Stogov’s own works changed radically at the same time. Subsequently, he practically did not write fictional prose. Now he is exclusively attracted to the genre of investigative journalism. He writes about youth subcultures (“Revolution,” “The Fourth Wave”), high-profile crimes (“Unnatural Killers”), and the times in which we live (“Sinners,” “The Dead Can Dance”).

Personal life

Married since 1993, three children. He is a parishioner of the Catholic Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria, located on Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg.

Bibliography

Novels

• 1997 - “The Emperor’s Skull.” Came out under the pseudonym Victor Banev. Since 2002, it has been republished under the title “Screwdriver”.
• 1998 - “Kamikaze”.
• 1999 - “Machos don’t cry.”
• 2000 - documentary novel “Revolution Now!” This name was suggested to Stogov by his friend, the philosopher Alexander Sekatsky, who claimed that this phrase was very popular among French students. When reissued, the story “Unborn Killers” (“Skinheads”), originally published under the pseudonym Georgy Operaskoy, was also included as an integral part of this story.
• 2002 - “mASIAfucker”.
• 2003 - collection of stories “13 months”.
• 2004 - “Revolution. A novel in techno style."
• 2005 - “The Dead Can Dance.”
• 2006 - book of interviews “Sinners”.
• 2007 - story “The Fourth Wave”.
• 2008 - “Apocalypse yesterday. Commentary on the vision of the prophet Daniel."

Stogoff Project series (2006-2009)

1. Ilya Stogov. Sinners
2. Ilya Stogov. 4th wave
3. Anton "Botanist" Chernin. Our music (The first complete history of Russian rock, told by himself)
4. Ilya Stogov. The Dead Can Dance (An Archaeological Commentary on the End of the World)
5. Dmitry Zhvania. The path of the Red Guards (Chronicles of the last Russian revolution)
6. Anarchy in the Russian Federation (The first history of Russian punk).
7. Georgy Operaskoy. Unnatural killers (Investigation of the crimes of the most notorious skin gang in Russia).
8. Oleg Azelitsky, Kirill Ivanov. Revolution (How it really happened)
9. Bronze rock (Russian rock from “St. Petersburg” to “Leningrad”)
10. Ilya Stogov. Billionaires (How Russia works)
11. Bob Jack POR-NO!
12. Alexey Tsvetkov. Diary of an Urban Guerrilla
13. Konstantin "Knockout" Osipov. Red gladiators.
14. Ilya Stogov. Apocalypse yesterday. Diary of a trip around the world
15. Orhan Dzhemal. War (Chronicles of the Five Day War)
16. Alexey Tsvetkov. After reading, destroy (capitalism). A manual for the urban guerrilla

Essays and translations

• 2010 - “Russian book”

"Lectures on the history of Atlantis" (forthcoming)

Awards and prizes

In 1999, Ilya Stogov was recognized as “Journalist of the Year”. In 2001, the Komersant newspaper nominated him for the title “Person of the Year,” with the wording “For creating the genre of men’s literature.” For the novel "Macho Men Don't Cry" in 2001 he was named "Writer of the Year", and the novel itself was noted as "Novel of the Year". A series of pocket guides received the Grand Prize of the Petropol Art Prize in 2003. In 2003 and 2007 he was nominated for the National Bestseller literary award, and in 2008 for the Man of the Book award and the Big Book award.

Based on the results of 2004, he received the “Television Debut of the Year” award for the “Week in the City” program. She was nominated for the TEFI Award, and at the VII Eurasian Television Forum 2005 she was recognized as the “Best Entertainment Project of the CIS”.

• In 1995, Ilya Stogov represented Russia at the V World Forum of Catholic Youth in Manila (Philippines) and, as part of this event, received an audience with Pope John Paul II.

• The portrait of the writer was exhibited in the Hermitage in 2004 as part of the exhibition “Cultural Space”.

• In 2003, he participated in the recording of one of the albums of the group “Bi-2”.

• In the novel Apocalypse Yesterday, he claims to have traveled around the world, visiting Egypt, Israel, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Venezuela, Peru, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Cambodia, China, Tibet, and India.

) - Russian prose writer and translator, journalist, radio host.

The writer's books have been translated into fifteen European and Asian languages. The total circulation in Russia is about 1 million 400 thousand copies.

Biography

In the late 1980s, Stogov began working for the music magazine “Rovesnik”, and later wrote for other St. Petersburg daily newspapers.

In 1997, Stogov became the editor of the first glossy magazine in St. Petersburg, “The World of St. Petersburg.” At the same time, he works in a casino, as an editor for an erotic publishing house, and tries himself in TV projects and radio stations.

In 1999 he received the title of “Best Journalist of St. Petersburg.”

In 1997-1998, the writer’s first novels were published: “The Emperor’s Skull” and “Kamikaze”. The novels did not cause a stir among readers. In Kamikaze, Stogov first touched upon the topic of political radicalism.

The following year, Stogov wrote his most famous novel, Macho Men Don't Cry. Published in 2001, Macho Men Don't Cry became a bestseller, and the author himself was named writer of the year.

At the same time, the largest domestic publishing house EKSMO showed interest in Stogov. The next novel (mASIAfucker) is published there, but just two years later, having unilaterally terminated the contract, Stogov returned to St. Petersburg and temporarily left writing and began collaborating with the Fifth Television Channel. There he receives several television awards (in particular, at the VII Eurasian Teleforum his project was named “Best Entertainment Show in the CIS”).

In 2006, Ilya Stogoff’s most famous book project, “Stogoff Project,” began to be published. As part of the series, Stogov publishes books by authors talking about what is happening “here and now.” The style of Stogov’s own works changed radically at the same time. Subsequently, he practically did not write fictional prose.

From 2007 to 2016 he worked as a presenter on Radio Zenit (St. Petersburg). Since 2017 – columnist for the culture department of the St. Petersburg Vedomosti newspaper

Bibliography

Novels

• - “The Emperor’s Skull.” Came out under the pseudonym Victor Banev. Since 2002 it has been republished under the title “Screwdriver”.
• - “Kamikaze”.
• - “Macho men don’t cry.”
• - documentary novel “Revolution Now!” This name was suggested to Stogov by his friend, the philosopher Alexander Sekatsky, who claimed that this phrase was very popular among French students. When reissued, the story “Unborn Killers” (“Skinheads”), originally published under the pseudonym Georgy Operaskoy, was also included as an integral part of this story.
• - "mASIAfucker."
• - collection of stories “13 months”.
• - “Revolution. A novel in techno style."
• - “The dead can dance.”
• - “Tabloid. A textbook of yellow journalism."
• - book of interviews “Sinners”.
• - story “The Fourth Wave”.
• - “Apocalypse yesterday. Commentary on the vision of the prophet Daniel."
• 2013 - “Project “Loser”.

Stogoff Project series (2006-2009)

Essays and translations

• - “Russian book”
• - “Boogie-woogie-book. The author's guide to St. Petersburg, which no longer exists"
• "Lectures on the history of Atlantis" (forthcoming)