Novel About a Russian Director, "Undead," Published in English by a US Publisher

Journalist and writer Svetlana Sachkova's novel "The Undead: A Novel of Modern Russia" was published in 2026 by American publisher Melville House. The book tells the story of Moscow director Maiya, who is prosecuted over a horror film about a zombie Lenin. Meduza has published a passage from the novel translated by the author herself.

Journalist and writer Svetlana Sachkova's novel "The Undead: A Novel of Modern Russia" was published in 2026 by US publisher Melville House. The work depicts life in Moscow in the late 2010s and tells the story of an apolitical film director whose creative endeavor unexpectedly leads her into the courtroom.

Plot and Protagonist

The novel's main character, Maiya, is a director who decides to make a horror film about Vladimir Lenin rising from the dead and commanding an army of zombies. Maiya is completely devoted to her craft and pays no attention to the news or political life. Everything changes dramatically when one morning a search team arrives at her door-someone has filed a denunciation, labeling her film as extremist.

Excerpt and Translation

Meduza has published an excerpt from the novel with the publisher's permission, in which Maiya hears the first, and perhaps only, review of her film. It has been composed by an expert hired by the court. Sachkova herself translated the excerpt into Russian for Meduza.

The novel addresses vital themes about contemporary Russia: artistic freedom, censorship, denunciation culture, and life under political pressure. While the main action revolves around the fictional Maiya, the story reflects the real fate of many Russian artists.