What will be the fate of the paper book in the world of smart fleas and holograms, viviparous fur and goldfish, after the New Middle Ages and the Second Islamic Revolution? In the novel 'Manaraga' Vladimir Sorokin sets an unexpected vector for thinking about the relationship of humanity with the printed word. The unusual profession of the protagonist - an underground worker, a romantic, a master of his craft - makes us take a fresh look at the book. Sorokin's novel can be read as an epitaph to paper literature - and as a hymn to its eternal life.