There are meetings in life after which you think: “Life was not lived in vain. You were lucky to meet and even work with the greats!” Yes, I was lucky to work for four years at The New Times with Irena Lesnevskaya. I was invited to the magazine by Zhenya Albats, and Irena welcomed me as one of her own. She knew my parents, worked with my mother at “Literaturnaya Gazeta.” And the magazine The New Times became my second home during those years. Irena was truly great, in the true sense of the word. She was fearless, passionate, enthusiastic, and caring. It was interesting to discuss politics, books, and movies with her. She witnessed the transformation of a GULAG country into something resembling a free state. She knew all the characters of this History and shaped it herself, not being a politician but a heroine of this History. She created free television and then founded an uncensored magazine. Both of these institutions truly influenced society and power. When the authorities stopped listening to society and began to destroy free media, Lesnevskaya lost faith that she could overcome this darkness. She seemed to retire, living at her dacha. She closely followed everything that was happening, and in those rare and happy meetings, I got to know another side of Lesnevskaya: tender, sorrowful, but not losing hope that she would see the darkness dissipate... Being smart, she understood that life would never be the same again. But Irena, it seems to me, was an idealist and continued to hope, even when there was no hope to be found...
Irena Lesnevskaya. Source: personal archive of Irena Lesnevskaya and archive The New Times ©
And of course, she will forever remain in my memory as the Queen — Her Majesty Woman, as Bulat Okudzhava sang.
Irena was friends with Bulat, and he gave her a song that she loved very much. In this song — also about a Woman with a capital W:
“Not vagabonds, not drunks,
at the table of the seven seas
sing, sing
the glory of my woman!
Look into her eyes,
as your salvation,
compare, compare
her with the nearby shore.
We are of the earth. And to hell
with tales of gods!
We simply carry on wings
what others carry in their arms.
You just need to believe very much
in these blue beacons,
and then the unexpected shore
will emerge from the fog to you.”
About the fantastically talented Irena Lesnevskaya, who managed to live her life with extraordinary dignity and strength, who knew how to love people and despise power, “having lost its bearings,” films should be made and books written. And what happiness that she was with us...