The History of One City. Tales

The works of Mikhail Yevgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin 1826–1889 are often referred to as the satirical encyclopedia of Russian life. In the novel The History of One City 1869–1870, the writer mocks the vices of Russian society in the 19th century, revealing... the typical traits of bureaucrat-officials. The History of One City is essentially a satirical story of Russian society in the second half of the past century and the beginning of the current century, presented in the form of a comic description of the city of Glupov and the officials who ruled it consecutively... – wrote I.S. Turgenev. Saltykov-Shchedrin's tales also grotesquely and generalized recreate the society contemporary to the writer. In the story How One Peasant Fed Two Generals 1869, the theme of bureaucratic arbitrariness, the inability of general-officials to work, and the desire to live at someone else's expense is raised. In the tale The Wise Piskar 1883, Saltykov-Shchedrin denounces the cowardice and political opportunism of part of the intelligentsia after the destruction of the revolutionary organization Narodnaya Volya.