On Wednesday evening I had the pleasure of discussing Dmitry Gluchovsky’s writing and especially his new novel Futu.re with the author himself at the Kulturhuset culture house in Stockholm. It turned out to be a really interesting conversation about ideas of East and West, lies and truth. If Metro 2033 was about Russia at the end of the cold war, the third novel in that series, Metro 2035 – out in English this week – is about Russia today, and Futu.re is about Europe today. (Since the Russian original is actually four years old, you could even argue that it’s eerily prescient on some issues). In Futu.re, Gluchovsky does that thing again he does so well, creating a high concept scifi page-turner engaging with enormous ideas around immortality, parenthood, society and the meaning of life. You should read it. And I’m thinking, if you’re from the so-called West, perhaps you should read it with Metro 3035, because it is actually super helpful at a moment of political upheaval to have the viewpoint of someone friendly from outside of your own context who has very few illusions about political honesty.
The conversation was recorded and I think the Kulturhuset International Writers’ Stage will publish it in their pod series eventually; I’ll try to link to it when they do.
Johanna Koljonen 