Barnaul

Barnaul is the point of arrival where Eduard Limonov’s hope of finding calm in the Altai gives way to the shock of learning that the trapper Zolotarev has died. The city marks both the end of a long, watchful journey and the beginning of an unresolved account of Zolotarev’s death.

Arrival and Expectations

Limonov travels from Moscow to Novosibirsk over three days, then spends another day reaching Barnaul, making the journey in third class as usual. Throughout the trip he feels watched. He tries to resist paranoia while reminding himself that his suspicions have often proved justified. The thought of meeting Zolotarev and setting out with him had sustained him through the winter; Barnaul is where he expects that companionship to begin.

News at Zolotarev’s Building

On reaching Zolotarev’s place in Barnaul, Limonov learns that the trapper was buried the previous day. A woman walking her dog in the early hours had found him dead at the foot of his building. A window in his fourth-floor apartment stood open, leaving the cause uncertain: suicide, accident, or murder. The National Bolsheviks who had spent Zolotarev’s last evening with him said he had been neither depressed nor drunk when he left them.

The Unfulfilled Meeting

Limonov had brought Zolotarev a National Bolshevik Party membership card as a gift. Instead of handing it over, he nervously fingers the card and feels unsteady on his legs. Barnaul thus becomes the setting for a reunion that cannot happen: the journey’s hoped-for refuge and companionship are replaced by bereavement and unanswered questions.