Let me begin with a story. A few weeks ago, I submitted an essay to a well-known American publication. The piece explored the digital present — more specifically, the uneasy future in which human creativity may become as unthinkable without machine assistance as, say, sneaker…

I stepped into the luxurious hall with – thankfully already familiar – the sensation that I had the privilege of touching something truly cultivated, civilization in its least pretentious guise, the elevating voice of literature, that sort of thing. I’m not joking, nor do I…

“When one morning Gregor Samsa awoke from troubled dreams…” “Wait, wait! Can’t we do something else today?” He tried not to show any signs of irritation, closed the small luxury volume — carefully tucking in the straw — and slowly lifted his eyes toward the camera. The face in…

It begins in a drowsy provincial town — Prespan, somewhere deep in 1980s Bulgaria — at a moment when history quietly forgets its manners. The so-called “Revival Process” is in full swing, and neighbour turns against neighbour in a fog of fear, confusion, and officially…