Harassment (novel)
| Author | Kira Yarmysh |
|---|---|
| Original title | Харассмент |
| Language | Russian |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Corpus |
| Publication date | April 22, 2022 |
| Publication place | Russia |
| Media type | Print, e-book, audiobook |
| Pages | 640 |
| ISBN | 978-5-17-148569-6 |
Harassment (Russian: Харассмент) is a 2022 Russian-language novel by Kira Yarmysh. It was published by Corpus as Yarmysh's second novel, following Incredible Events in Women's Cell Number 3.[1][2]
Plot
Inga is 27, well educated, attractive, and employed by a major corporation, but her professional success does not free her from loneliness, strained family ties, and a failing private life. A sudden relationship with her boss forces her to confront questions she had tried to avoid and overturns her sense of control. The relationship first damages Inga and then gives her a desire for revenge. The conflict develops from an unequal workplace romance into a broader struggle over coercion, manipulation, shame, and retaliation.[1][2]
Background and publication
Yarmysh discussed the plot with Alexei Navalny during a flight to Novosibirsk in August 2020. A few days later Navalny was poisoned with Novichok, and Yarmysh began writing the novel about a month later, after his condition had improved. She wrote much of the book in Moscow while under house arrest in connection with the so-called "sanitary case", related to protests in support of Navalny.[2]
The novel was released by Corpus on April 22, 2022, in the Russkiy Corpus series. The book appeared after the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and after Yarmysh had left Russia.[3]
Themes
The novel deals with sexual coercion, workplace harassment, dependency, and the use of power by a stronger person against a weaker one.[2] Yarmysh said that she regarded the harassment in the novel as a particular example of violence as a broader moral and social category. She had avoided presenting the heroine as an unambiguous victim, because she wanted the situation and the characters to remain contradictory rather than didactic.[2] The book was an attempt to avoid simple binaries of "rapist" and "victim" while showing how unequal relationships built on power and dependency become destructive.[1]
Reception
Galina Yuzefovich described the novel as a work that preserves a complex view of sexual coercion and unequal relationships rather than reducing them to moralizing formulas.[1] Anna Berseneva, reviewing Yarmysh's later work for BAbook and recalling Harassment, wrote that the novel marked Yarmysh's rapid movement beyond the debut stage and the emergence of "not merely a bright but significant writer" in contemporary Russian literature.[4][1][5]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Кира Ярмыш: Харассмент". Corpus (in Russian). Corpus. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Kira Yarmysh's new novel, Harassment". Meduza. May 3, 2022. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
- ↑ "В издательстве «Медузы» выходит новый роман Киры Ярмыш. Это ее первая книга, написанная за пределами России". Meduza (in Russian). August 1, 2025. Retrieved July 8, 2026.
- ↑ Berseneva, Anna (October 8, 2025). "Моя литературная премия. Кира Ярмыш". BAbook (in Russian). Retrieved July 8, 2026.
- ↑ Berseneva, Anna (June 3, 2022). "Планируя убийство... Вышел в свет новый роман Киры Ярмыш. И он не про Навального". Novye Izvestia (in Russian). Retrieved July 8, 2026.