One Hour in a Cafe

Arkadi Averchenko — a remarkable writer-humorist, playwright, theater critic, and editor of the most famous pre-revolutionary Russian satire and humor magazines “Satyricon” and “New Satyricon”. The works of the “king of laughter”, as Averchenko was called by his contemporaries, are distinguished by their conciseness, gentle humor, elegance of language, and subtle psychological insights. The short stories included in the book were written at different times. Their characters are people of various ages, professions, and social standings, each hero living their own life, displaying their own character, portrayed by the author succinctly and candidly. The literary craftsman Vasily Pokoynikov (“The Story of One Story”) seeks fame by churning out stolen plots, the dim-witted reporter Shmurygin (“A Braid on a Stone”) dreams of witnessing an incident and writing a sensational article, the ambitious accountant of the brick factory (“The Debutant”) considers himself an actor, the old malicious official Katushkin (“An Insult by Action”) loves to do nasty things just for fun, the silly and helpless Verочка (“A Pitiful Creature”) always ends up in ridiculous situations, active boy Volodya (“The Air-Blowing Kid”) finds a way to earn money and buy a gift for mom… An extraordinary mind and the ability to see and hear allowed the author to create vivid, memorable human portraits that evoke lively interest among readers.