Rubric: Rainbow – New Books

Music Teacher – M-Graphics, Boston, USA
Interview with Zoe Master August 2012 

– What makes you write?

- Nothing and nobody. Freedom of creativity means not so much the ability to write as the ability to write when you feel the need. I have always loved reading and writing. When I was a child, I sent some poems to Pioneer magazine, and from there even came an answer. No, not about the quality of poetic opuses, but about my clumsy, "Moscow" hearing, surnames. However, the poems were quite helpless. When I got married, I changed my last name to a better one. Here in the States, it sounds like a native. But here is the problem with Russian publishers. For some reason, they perceive the name Master as a pseudonym. I think of myself as a master of words. Gets to jokes. Once, I called either “October”, or “Banner”.

- Introduce yourself.

- Zoe Master.

- What, no last name?

Well, after that, depending on the mood, you can smile, surprise or upset. The main thing is that this does not affect the freedom of creativity.

- Your favorite places in Chisinau?

- These are places where memories of childhood and youth are connected. For example, the fountain in Pushkin Park and lions, which at one time climbed all the children who played in this park.

      - To what extent are your works fueled by your own biography?

- I cannot determine the percentage of real events and fantasy, but autobiography is certainly present. How about without that? People who have lived in Chisinau, Moscow, or visited Spain, easily recognize the “geography” of the scene. When it comes to characters or characters, it’s much more complicated. I would not want the reader to perceive the text by specifically associating the author with the “actors” of my stories. That would be primitive. Autobiographical stories, in fact, only two: “Picture” and “Mannaya porridge”. In others, there is such a mixture of imagination and personal experiences that it is impossible to distinguish all this. No need to.

    - Was there really a teacher or “music teacher” who influenced your work? And if not, why does music take up so much space?

- Music is present in almost all stories. It turns out involuntarily, it somehow permeates the texture of the story, sometimes sounds like an accompaniment, sometimes controls the plot and then becomes the main theme, but always contributes to the harmony of the text. Also, maybe because I've been doing music quite seriously for many years, it seems to me that the form, the logical construction of the text is as necessary as in a musical work. The incoherent presentation that in poetry, in prose, in music, makes it difficult to perceive.

As for teachers, the prototype of the story “Music Teacher” in my life, fortunately, was not. I've been lucky since childhood. In fact, a meeting with a teacher of musical literature in a music school determined the choice of profession. Semyon Alexandrovich Mirovich worked there for many years. I can't say that my classmates adored him. But I, a 9-year-old, was completely subdued. He sat down to the instrument, told, played without looking into the notes, so that the lesson flew like one minute. So I decided that I would be a music teacher. And in general education school, my favorite subject was literature, also largely thanks to our teacher - Mark Iosifovich Yaroshevich, who not only knew everything, not only knew how to convey the essence with a few words, but also brought up the right taste, and most importantly - taught to think. He is one of those teachers who are remembered not because it was easy, fun and easy with them, but because they taught. There was such intelligence that, even today, it's scary to say how many years from now, remember his lessons. We knew the subject so well that no tutors were needed to enter universities. You know, when I went to a Moscow university, I got a four for an essay, and I found this assessment so impossible that, having already arrived, I asked to show my essay. The theme was "War and Peace." There was not a single error in the essay, but at the end the note blushed: "Too accurate citation." Did you?

I can talk about my teachers for a very long time because I was lucky enough to learn from the best in school, in school, and (to a lesser extent) at the institute, but these two teachers I am more grateful than the others, because by approaching their profession creatively, they made us personal.

- What's your book about?

- About life, about fate, about what you think about alone with yourself.

– Who published this collection?

Published by M-Graphics Publishing. At first, for more than a year, I tried to work with a Moscow publishing house, which accepted the book for publication and even made a layout. But for some reason, they could not draw up and send a contract. And at the same time, they disappeared for several months, then began to convulsively send electronic messages with constantly changing conditions of cooperation. I thought it was weird. I am used to the fact that any deal (and publishing a book is also a deal) begins with a contract. This is not mercantile, but elementary common sense, because clearly stated terms of the contract allow both parties to remain in a normal working relationship. However, I once again became convinced of the correctness of the saying – “Whatever is done, everything is for the best”, because during these useless negotiations I wrote several more stories that were included in the collection “Music Teacher”. Publisher

“M-Graphics Publishing” is located in Boston and is famous, especially after the release of Elena Katishonok’s novel “Once upon a time there was an old man with an old woman”, which became a finalist of Russian Booker. The most valuable thing is that they work with each author on individual contractual terms, and these conditions are observed.

Which of America do you see Moldova as?

- You know, I always loved to return to Chisinau: after the kolkhoz, where music students were sent, after the Moscow sessions, after a vacation at the sea. Everything was cozy, warm, sunny.

Maybe not, but I remember that. That’s how this city came to be in my stories. But I don't want to write anything about Chisinau.

89-90 years, because that's when he ceased to be a native. I remember standing on the balcony of the house on Bielsky (probably, this street was also renamed) and from the fifth floor I watched a crowd of screaming people moving from Reunification Street to Mira Avenue. Nearby was my two-year-old son and nine-year-old daughter. She read the inscriptions on homemade banners: “Noi sontem akase!”, “Your apartments are our apartments!”, “Russians to Russia, Jews to Israel!”, and I mentally said goodbye to the city where several generations of my ancestors lived, my parents, for whom Romanian was the native language, where I and my children were born. What to do, the instinct of self-preservation is stronger than emotions. I have been living in America for 23 years and have never returned to Moldova. Although, I confess, there were impulses. Sometimes I go online, look at photos of today’s Chisinau, read newspaper articles. In short, I can’t say that I’m keeping a close eye on what’s going on there. And, frankly, what you see is not particularly optimistic. I am sorry that Moldova is one of the poorest countries in Europe, I am offended that, judging by the photos, the city is decaying (private mansions do not count), that many places of my childhood and youth, for example, Komsomol Lake, are simply destroyed. I hate to know that nationalism is still winning over reason. Therefore, I prefer to keep in mind the Chisinau that I loved.

 - Have you been to Russia all these years?

- Nope. You know, there are so many interesting places in the world that I have never seen before that it makes no sense to come back to Russia, to Moscow, where I have already spent enough years. But the connection is not interrupted. Quite often I do interviews with Russian celebrities: sometimes live, when they come to us, sometimes virtual conversations over Skype or phone. But somehow, we talk about issues that affect us all, regardless of where we live.

- Which of the interviewees was most interesting to you?

- I was very interested in doing an interview with Lyudmila Ulitskaya, especially the first one dedicated to the novel “Daniel Stein – Translator” – precisely because I did not like this book. Of course, I remember conversations with Vladimir Spivakov, Tamara Sinyavskaya, Mark Gorenstein, Vera Vasilyeva, Chulpan Khamatova, Valery Novodvorskaya. I mean, all these people are certainly interesting. Another thing is that you, as a journalist, should be so interesting that such talented, bright personalities want to answer your questions. You are nervous, and will I be nervous? them It is interesting as a conversationalist, whether my questions will cause problems, whether a person will want to trust and at least for half an hour or an hour to be himself, and whether we will be able to “play four hands”.

Mark Gorenstein is a former chief conductor of the Svetlanov State Symphony Orchestra, who began his career in the Chisinau Philharmonic.

- Yes, the first time I interviewed him was when he was in this position, the second time – a year and a half, just after the scandal surrounding his dismissal. This story deserves a separate conversation. However, the conversations with Mark Borisovich, as well as other interviews, can be read on my website: .

- What do you think of contemporary Moldovan literature?

- I understand that you mean Russian-speaking writers of Moldova? First, I must say that I highly appreciate the efforts of those publishers and editors who are doing everything possible and impossible for Russian-language literature to exist and develop. I understand they work on enthusiasm, slightly diluted by sponsorship. However, the same thing is happening in Israel, in Germany, and here in the United States. As for the authors, I really like the prose of Mikhail Potorak. He has a light feather, an interesting style and a great sense of word. I think he is the brightest of modern Moldovan writers. But it's a subjective opinion. Some may disagree with him.

– What is going on in “emigrant” literature?

- That's too general a question. Moreover, I never set out to read the texts of all the Russian-language writers in the United States. I read some authors regularly, I only heard about some, and mostly read those with whom I intersect on the pages of newspapers and magazines that publish us. Perhaps what is happening here is the same as everywhere else: the search for new literary techniques, style, language. Sometimes these attempts are pleasing, sometimes shocking. A lot of graphomania and amateurism. But, firstly, everyone has his own concept of professionalism and talent, and secondly, there is a reader for everything. If, for example, I hate it, then someone considers it the pinnacle of taste. Don't know. I can only say that immigrants write often and a lot. And there are several serious literary publications in the United States: the magazines “The Word” (started with the participation of S. Dovlatov), “New Journal” (published since 1924 and prints writers of all “waves” of emigration) and the almanac “Coast”. The first two editions are posted on the website "Journal Hall" (along with the magazines "October", "Banner", "Neva", "New World"). Going to these sites, you can get some idea of what is happening in emigrant literature.

- What modern and non-modern writers are important to you?

- Of the non-modern, in the sense of those who have gone to another world, I could name many. But this is how, without hesitation, I will call Bulgakov, Babel and Paustovsky. The fact is that they will always be modern because their prose is really talented. She's timeless. If we talk about the books of living authors, I like the prose of Lyudmila Petrushevskaya and Alexander Kabakov. It is symbolic that the faces of these writers do not flash on TV screens or on the pages of glamorous magazines. Apparently, they are engaged directly in creativity. Do you know what is most important to a writer?

- Inspiration?

- In one of the programs, Daria Dontsova admitted that the main thing for the writer is not the ability to think, but to sit comfortably at the table.

- In the twenty-first century, new names appeared in literature. Are there any of them that you are “sick of?”

- I try to read the prose of contemporary writers, although I cannot say that I track all the novelties of Russian literature. Until recently, out of curiosity, I bought books whose authors were given serious prizes. For example, I was happy to read Elena Chizhova’s novel “The Time of Women”, which received the “Russian Booker” in 2009. But after in 2010 the same award was given to Elena Kolyadina for the novel “Flower Cross”, I stopped doing it. The author described her book as “a halimatya about fiery eels and golden eels”. You see, if a prestigious prize is awarded for such outright nonsense, it means that authors who create Literature, not a pseudo-patriotic lump, have little chance of gaining recognition, and that censorship, hated by everyone, has been replaced by bad taste. I don't know what's worse. And among other things, the awarding of prizes in literature for kitsch or incompetent writing, disorienting authors and readers. As for the "spoiled soul", this is different. There are very few such books, and they are not written in the XXI century. I love reading memoirs because there is nothing more interesting than well-written real-life stories about time and people.

- What events in cultural life (music, theater, cinema, literature) have become a revelation for you?

- For several years, the Metropolitan Opera has been broadcasting its performances in cinemas in the United States and Canada. That is, on certain days, without leaving Denver, Philadelphia or San Diego, you can go to the movies and watch the production as if you were present at the performance. (The ticket price is slightly higher than for a regular movie, but much lower than what you can get to the MET.) Moreover, on the screen, the faces of performers, conductors, orchestrators are shown in close-up, which, with all desire, you will not see, sitting in the stalls and especially on the balcony. In addition, in intermissions, leading (usually opera divas), talk with soloists and at the same time let you into the “backstage”. You see how the scenery is made up and changed, how the stage is prepared for the next act, and this coherence in the work of hundreds of people is as striking as the performance itself. You know, I've seen a lot of Bolshoi Theatre performances, but the Metropolitan's productions really were a revelation. If there is perfection in art, it lives there. By the way, all this stage splendor, the opportunity to invite the best soloists and directors is carried out only thanks to charity. One of the Metropolitan's most serious sponsors is New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who donates hundreds of millions of dollars annually to charity. At Carnegie Corporation alone, he donates between $5 million and $20 million annually. And by the way, this billionaire goes to City Hall in the morning not by limousine, but by subway. And he set himself a salary of one dollar a year. He was the first mayor of New York to have his home address listed in a phone book. Another opera lover, jeweler-designer Ann Ziff, recently helped the theater with thirty million dollars. I mean, you can't do a miracle on enthusiasm or government handouts. The conclusion is that when talented people are adequately paid for their work, a revelation is obtained.

- Are you writing about life in America?

- I really want to write about it. And I hope that happens.

Conducted an interview with Olesya Rudyagin

"Russian Field" Chisinau