The main character is a 17-year-old schoolboy who acutely experiences his difference from his peers.
Released in March, 'Popovich' is the first novel by Sergey Shargunov in almost a decade and a half. Since the book '1993', timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the shelling of the White House. But all these years, the writer did not disappear from literature. In 2017, he received the 'Big Book' award for his biography of Valentin Kataev, 'In Pursuit of Eternal Spring'.
A year later, a collection of short prose titled 'Svoi' was published, which included the story 'Popovichi', from which the new novel would later grow. In 2023, Alexander Veledinsky's film '1993' was released, based on the book of the same name. Finally, Shargunov is the editor-in-chief of the magazine 'Yunost' and the host of the program 'Open Book' on the 'Russia-Culture' channel, where he interviews fellow writers.
Shargunov was born and raised in a priest's family, but he emphasizes: 'Popovich' is 'not autofiction, not nonfiction, but fiction.' The action unfolds in the mid-2010s. The main character of the novel, Luka Artobolevsky, is a 17-year-old schoolboy preparing to enter the philology department and acutely experiences his difference from his peers.
A rebellion against his father – an honest, pure, but strict pastor, 'one of those who wants to drive his child into happiness with an 'iron hand'' – leads to a rebellion against God. The 600-page novel is divided into two parts with practically independent subplots. As the author himself says, these are 'two detectives with sudden twists' under one cover.
While studying at university, Shargunov was an assistant to State Duma Deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Tatyana Astrakhanikina, under whose leadership a commission investigating the events of September 21 – October 4, 1993, worked in the State Duma in 1998–1999. Shargunov also worked there. Later, he became an assistant to journalist and deputy from the Yabloko party, Yuri Shchekochikhin, with whom he worked in the investigative department of 'Novaya Gazeta'. In 2004, together with fellow writers, Shargunov created the movement 'Hooray!', which organized literary evenings and street actions and collaborated with Dmitry Rogozin's 'Rodina' party. On June 25, 2016, at the Communist Party congress for the elections to the State Duma of the VII convocation, he was nominated as a candidate for the Korkinsky single-member district in the Chelyabinsk region and as the leader of the party list in the Altai Krai, although he remained nonpartisan. On September 18, 2016, he won the elections on the party list. Since October 5, 2016, he has been a deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the VII convocation. Since September 19, 2021, he has been a deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the VIII convocation. He became the only deputy to vote against the psychiatric assistance law, which abolishes the need to create separate and independent services for the protection of the rights of patients in psychiatric boarding schools.
On February 23, 2022, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he was included in the European Union's sanctions list for 'supporting and conducting actions and policies that undermine the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence of Ukraine, further destabilizing Ukraine.' On February 24, 2022, he was included in Canada's sanctions list of 'close associates of the regime' for voting to recognize the independence of the 'so-called republics in Donetsk and Luhansk.' On March 24, 2022, he was included in the U.S. sanctions list for 'complicity in Putin's war' and 'support for the Kremlin's efforts to invade Ukraine'; the U.S. State Department stated that State Duma deputies use their powers to persecute dissenters and political opponents, violate freedom of information, and restrict human rights and fundamental freedoms of Russian citizens. Later, on similar grounds, he was included in the sanctions lists of the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia, Japan, Ukraine, and New Zealand.
