A collection of essays by prose writer, translator, and critic Alexei Polyarinov is like a heartfelt conversation with a good friend about cinema and literature. The author shares his most intimate thoughts—ideas for unwritten books: he talks about a novel about the adventures of Cervantes's mother, about fan fiction based on The Wizard of Oz, and even gives an imaginary tour of a morgue near Moscow, while giving a lecture on the dead in Russian literature.

In the second part of the book, readers will find the story of the 'sworn friendship' between Jonathan Franzen and David Foster Wallace, an essay on one of the most terrifying American historical novels—Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, reflections on the emergence of the global novel, and other texts on cinema and literature, written with incredible love for the subject and an excellent sense of humor.