Kámen, nůžky, papír a jiné povídky – Osipov Maxim (2024)

Disasters and hopes of unexpected encounters. Russian writer Maxim Osipov, living in exile, introduces himself to the Czech audience for the first time in his book Stone, Scissors, Paper and Other Stories, through short stories complemented by an essay and a dramatic text. The characters created by the author share a common theme of searching for truth and meaning: Their search is not always successful and often not even sincere, but it leads to unexpected results. The life described by the author is bleak, dark, full of losses, yet there is still room for happiness. The texts in the collection are tragicomic, existential, but also full of exaggeration and comical or bizarre characters, through which Osipov explores universal themes such as forms of human loneliness, order and freedom, and, last but not least, the inevitability of death. Osipov's texts together create a collage portrait of life in provincial Russia—its tragedies, frustrations, but also moments of humble beauty and inspiration. The stories in this volume capture doctors, actors, screenwriters, teachers, entrepreneurs, local political leaders, and ordinary criminals, whose paths intersect in unpredictable yet entirely natural ways: in a hospital room, in classrooms,…