A reading club for those who love to ask questions and draw unexpected parallels. Sometimes you want not just to read a book, but to discuss it - aloud, in company, comparing with others' reactions. An open reading club is exactly about that: here, discussion helps to see new meanings in a familiar text. The theme of the meeting will be the novel by Mikhail Yevgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin 'The Golovlyovs'. First published in 1880, it remains one of the most accurate works about the destructive power of family roles, habits, and hypocrisy. The story of several generations of a noble family unfolds on the eve of and after the abolition of serfdom, when the familiar order is cracking at the seams. At the center of the discussion will be Iudushka Golovlyov, a character who has become a household name. There will also be talk about Arina Golovlyova - the authoritative head of the family: her character bears traits of the writer's mother, adding almost documentary sharpness to the novel. Participants, along with the hosts, will discuss the psychological and spiritual depth of the text, recall other literary examples where "dead souls" appear alongside living people, and try to find points of contact with today. The meeting will be conducted by the staff of the Gogol House Daniil Ryasov and Svetlana Panchenko. Ideas on where to go in Moscow are collected on our website.