Humorous Stories

The relationships between men and women, parents and children, family life and everyday concerns, the turbulent rise of socio-political life and the latest trends in the art of the Silver Age— the writer jokes about everything, mainly in a good-natured and benevolent way, but sometimes with bitter irony. The situations and characters presented in the author's stories are often grotesque— and this makes them even more truthful. It is in such a whimsical depiction of reality that the mastery of Averchenko and his genuine life wisdom are revealed. This collection presents a brilliant array of stories filled with sparkling humor, lively and witty satire on the morals and everyday life of Russian society at the beginning of the 20th century.