Khurshed Mustafaev

More than 50 years back in a stony set of a remote mountainous village somewhere in Tajikistan the lovers called Shams and Mekhri traveled. Mekhri pulled by a transient eclipse broke an oath of marital faithfulness that overnight transformed Sham's existence into a farcical puppet show, leading to a murder of his spouse.

A remote corner in the kingdom of nature is the ideal place for reflections about the meaning of life and the hero’s role in this world: this hero is Rodion Raskolnikov. His tactile and sincere communication with the current of the water in the clear mountain river seems to turn to the Koranic question on man’s original matter – the transparent liquid with which Raskolnikov tries to wash his face whilst dirtying himself. Water is the ‘mirror’ in which the hero sees himself, set against the issue of the ‘superflu- ous man’ and his own destination. Is he a worm? Is this worm disgusting?” – Raskol- nikov asks his reflection. The internal experiences, along with visions of the caring Sonya singing him a lullaby – are an invented reality into which Rodion has escaped, but he is forced to return to the former world, where things are not as they seemed...