Osipov, the writer who looks at life in Russia with a doctor's eyes

BarcelonaLike the Russian writer Maria Stepanova, Maksim Ossipov (Moscow, 1963) would never have imagined that he would end up in exile. "I never would have thought that I would be teaching Russian literature in English in Amsterdam, but here I am," he explained in a interview on the ARAAuthor of short story collections such as The cry of the domestic bird (Club Editor, 2016), Rock, paper, scissors (Club Editor, 2022), and Kilometer 101 (Asteroid Books), Ossipov packed his bags and left the country shortly after the invasion of Ukraine began. In Russia, Ossipov was a cardiologist. In exile, he lives between Amsterdam and Berlin, writing and speaking about literature. He has just published a new book of short stories, After Eternity (Libros del Asteroide, 2026), translated into Spanish by Alejandro Ariel González. From his previous life in Russia, Osipov longs for his home, his parents' graves, his work as a doctor, and some friends. And above all, the feeling of being understood.

As in his previous collections of short stories, Osipov's experience as a doctor is evident. When he lived between Moscow and Tarussa, a town about 100 kilometers from the Russian capital, he treated suffering patients. This closeness to men, women, grandparents, and children at their most vulnerable moments ends up appearing in his stories. Precisely, After Eternity It begins with a narrative in which the protagonists are a doctor and a patient who had been a literary director at a theater. There is fiction, but also a touch of reality. The patient is from a ghost mining town in the north of the country. A frigid city with all the amenities that, when the mines were exhausted, was dismantled, and its inhabitants evacuated. The protagonist of Osipov's story must live on a train. These cities are not a product of the author's imagination: they existed, and some were even bombed to test new military equipment.

When he writes, Osipov makes a precise, unembellished diagnosis of an unattainable country. In Luxembourg He writes that the suicide rate is the third highest in the world, especially among the rural population: "And that," we read, "despite the fact that decrees from you-know-who force us (doctors) to falsify the numbers." In the same story, the doctor wonders what's keeping him from leaving Russia: "It's the ability to understand through small details, glances, half-spoken words," he explains. War, corruption, and above all, anger with the leaders permeate many of the stories. The author, through the voices of his characters, longs for his death. Luxembourg It explains how, in the early 1980s, medical students were forced to attend the funerals of leaders: "I hope they all die!" says one of the characters. In the last story, MeanwhileIt's very explicit: some young people raise their beer mugs and toast. "If he kicked the bucket [referring to Stalin], this one has no choice but to kick the bucket," they say.