Often serving as a model for flight, the Cossacks customarily typify a border or threshold existence. For me the Cossacks represent, or symbolize, freedom, absence of restriction, and literally, absence of frontier. Partly by chance, but also because Belmondo's films were widely shown in Russia. When I was growing up, Russian films all had their propagandistic tendencies. What was so striking for us about Belmondo was that he seemed totally free, operating beyond or above the political.
Publishing is a difficult and tricky business, especially today.
I recognize that publishers are obliged to juggle commerce and culture, constantly on a kind of tightrope. What a writer has to hope for is the one publisher in a hundred who is perceptive and willing to take a risk. It took a while, but I had that good fortune. When you move from your first language to a second, you forcibly become an exile, which can be very positive. For example, you leave all your native clich s behind, linguistically you enter virgin territory.