Vasily Katanyan. Touching the Idols

Prominent documentary filmmaker and brilliant storyteller Vasily Katanyan wrote this book not so much about himself as about his intimate encounters with great contemporaries—from Mayakovsky to Marlene Dietrich, from Eisenstein to Arkady Raikin. He wrote with rare humor and an even rarer frankness that no longer shocks anyone, but captivates everyone.

The bulk of the book consists of the first intimate biography in Russian of the magnificent and enigmatic Lilya Brik – she was his stepmother; a candid portrait of the great and unapproachable Maya Plisetskaya – he has been friends with her for forty years; a heartfelt biography of the genius and eccentric Sergei Parajanov – the author was by his side from his student days until the last years of his life. And that's not all...