A novel by contemporary Canadian-British writer Rachel Cusk (born 1968), who has received numerous awards, consisting of ten meetings and conversations. During an unbearably hot summer in Athens, the protagonist, a well-known novelist, teaches a creative writing course. Her new acquaintances and interlocutors are neighbors, students, and professors who willingly speak about themselves — sharing their beliefs, dreams, fantasies, anxieties, and regrets. Against the background of their stories, the portrait of the narrator — a woman learning to live with the awareness of a great loss — draws itself by contrast. "Contour" is the first novel of a trilogy that changed perceptions of this traditional literary form and significantly expanded the boundaries of contemporary prose. This is the first Russian edition of the book.