For many years before I wrote the book I carried around with me a strange slip of paper. I had written it on a train in the middle of other work. On the edge of the paper was a short sentence, like the beginning of a letter. "My son Miiron" I was not able to throw this piece of paper away. it felt important. I wondered. what is this Wiron? Who is he? Why had I written a name like that? What was going to happen?

I cannot speak Russian, but later I remembered that "mir" is Russian and means "peace". I understood, I wanted, then, to write to a boy whose name was "peace". (''Mir also means the world") It was also clear that the main character's name should be Vladimir, The name Vladimir has two parts, "mir" (peace) and ''vladi'', which means "ruling" and "power" and I wanted to write a book expressly about power and ruling.

What about the village called Bysna, where the events begin? Perhaps it is the old Byzantium.

One of the most difficult problems with "Vladimir's Book" was to combine fiction with reality. I began to write a fairy tale, but it became such a long one that I was forced to fix it to some historical time. I had to decide the era in which the tale was happening. At that point the monk Seraphim, who is a real, historical character, appeared in the story. He is Seraphim of Sarov, who in the church of the east is compared with Francis of Assisi.

He had a similar contact with nature and animals. A large bear was once seen at his feet as mild as a lamb. Seraphim the monk loosely dated the book to the end of the eighteenth century. But the book is nonetheless a fairy tale and not an historical novel. I have called it an historical tale. I expressly wanted to write a fairy tale. In historical novels it is as if objects, manners and an exact historical context eat into the sory itself and become an end in themselves. I aimed towards a story which could have been set in any time. A story once upon a time...

(The plot, in brief, is that the main character, Vladimir, thirsts for power, acquires power and, in the end, abandons power and retires completely from society.) I attempted to study power from many sides" a man's and a woman's power - the book includes, for example, a scene in which Vladimir disguises himself as a woman; he is both man and woman and experiences an extraordinary feeling of power as a superman. I try to outline that power which hardens and imprisons its user. I was very satisfied that I had written the book before the Berlin wall fell and before the Soviet Union disintegrated. That was exactly the sort of picture I had in mind when I wrote about the power which hardens and eventually fetters the wielder of power. I wrote about the use of power which leads to war; about how wars are prepared, how war grows in people's minds, before it breaks out into armed conflict.

There is an entry in my diary from the time when I was writing Vladimir's book" which is really the heart of the whole book. I wrote in my diary.. The courage to see and to face oneself is a prerequisite for the control of the mind. It is the courage to accept the world as a mirror of oneself. An imperfection seen in the world is an imperfection in oneself. The mirror cannot be altered; one has to alter the face which is reflected in it."

The word is a mirror. Another person is for me a mirror. A kingdom is the mirror of its ruler. I carry responsibility. Or at least, I am involved in everything.

I have woven inner stories, fairy tales, into the narrative. They are, to begin with, important in the construction of the novel, but are more important, also, in order to give the story new dimensions. fairy tales are wise, eternal and unexplainable, but they do nonetheless explain many things. I wanted to smuggle the tales into the world of young people as tales are rest, medicine and dream. They are symbolic life.

In the past symbolic life was a natural part of people's lives. People lived with symbols and myths throughout the revolving years, in church services, stories, dances and songs. Myths were natural parts of both everyday and festive life - and they kept people healthy, Through myths the unutterable part of us was expressed.

I have a great respect for old tales and myths and I have explored them and used them in almost all of my books. I think that it is important to create a new, more conscious, relationship towards myths. Myths support us', they contain a lot of power - although they can also confine us. One can always find the answers to the problems of life within fairy tales, and within fairy tales there is always a place for the individual amid the universe. A fairy tale is the magic ball and the orb of the ruler, with the help of fairy tales one can survive and live through the storms of inner conflict.

A living relationship with myths keeps a person's hope alive.