T

The novel tells the story of the journey of the martial arts master Count T., who fled from his home to escape the tsar's police and, with an unknown purpose, makes his way to Optina Pustyn, which in the context of this novel takes on the features of not a famous abode of Orthodoxy, but rather some kind of Shambhala or an obscure place of spiritual enlightenment existing in the real world. Then 'Optina' transforms into 'Solovyov's', and here everything becomes even more unclear and convoluted. On the way to Optina Pustyn, Count T. encounters the Kabbalistic being Ariel. Ariel, along with five literary ghosts, concocts and writes a story about Count T., which Ariel shares with the count. However, T. does not particularly like being subordinate to some dubious five characters. Therefore, he tries to seize the initiative from them and become the author himself.