История одного города

by Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Михаил Евграфович Салтыков-Щедрин

Михаил Евграфович Салтыков-Щедрин (настоящая фамилия Салтыков, псевдоним Николай Щедрин, 1826-1889) – русский писатель, рязанский и тверской вице-губернатор. М.Е. Салтыков-Щедрин – прозаик, автор сатирических и реалистических романов и хроник («Господа Голевлевы», «История одного города», «Пошехонская старина» т.д.), рассказов («Годовщина», «Добрая душа», «Испорченные дети» и т.д.) и сказок («Карась-идеалист», «Медведь на воеводстве», «Повесть о том, как один мужик двух генералов прокормил» и т.д.). Все творчество М.Е. Салтыкова-Щедрина было направлено на обличение пороков общества.

«История одного города» — сатирическая повесть М.Е. Салтыкова-Щедрина, написанная автором l

Genres: Russia, Fiction, Classics, Russian Literature, Humor, Satire, 19th Century

261 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1870

About the author

Mikhail Saltykov was born on 27 January 1826 in the village of Spas-Ugol (modern-day Taldomsky District of the Moscow Oblast of Russia) as one of the eight children (five brothers and three sisters) in the large Russian noble family of Yevgraf Vasilievich Saltykov (1776—1851) and Olga Mikhaylovna Saltykova (née Zabelina) (1801—1874). His father belonged to an ancient Saltykov noble house that originated as one of the branches of the Morozov boyar family. According to the Velvet Book, it was founded by Mikhail Ignatievich Morozov nicknamed Saltyk (from the Old Church Slavonic word "saltyk" meaning "one's own way/taste"), the son of Ignaty Mikhailovich Morozov and a great-grandson of the founder of the dynasty Ivan Semyonovich Moroz who lived during the 14-15th centuries. The Saltykov family also shared the Polish Sołtyk coat of arms. It gave birth to many important political figures throughout history, including the Tsaritsa of Russia Praskovia Saltykova and her daughter, the Empress of Russia Anna Ioannovna.

Saltykov's mother was an heir to a rich Moscow merchant of the 1st level guild Mikhail Petrovich Zabelin whose ancestors belonged to the so-called trading peasants and who was granted hereditary nobility for his handsome donation to the army needs in 1812; his wife Marfa Ivanovna Zabelina also came from wealthy Moscow merchants. At the time of Mikhail Saltykov's birth, Yevgraf was fifty years old, while Olga was twenty five. Mikhail spent his early years on his parents' large estate in Spasskoye on the border of the Tver and Yaroslavl governorates, in the Poshekhonye region.

"In my childhood and teenage years I witnessed serfdom at its worst. It saturated all strata of social life, not just the landlords and the enslaved masses, degrading all classes, privileged or otherwise, with its atmosphere of a total lack of rights, when fraud and trickery were the order of the day, and there was an all-pervading fear of being crushed and destroyed at any moment," he remembered, speaking through one of the characters of his later work Old Years in Poshekhonye. Life in the Saltykov family was equally difficult. Dominating the weak, religious father was despotic mother whose intimidating persona horrified the servants and her own children. This atmosphere was later recreated in Shchedrin's novel The Golovlyov Family, and the idea of "the devastating effect of legalized slavery upon the human psyche" would become one of the prominent motifs of his prose. Olga Mikhaylovna, though, was a woman of many talents; having perceived some in Mikhail, she treated him as her favourite.

The Saltykovs often quarrelled; they gave their children neither love nor care and Mikhail, despite enjoying relative freedom in the house, remembered feeling lonely and neglected. Another thing Saltykov later regretted was his having been completely shut out from nature in his early years: the children lived in the main house and were rarely allowed to go out, knowing their "animals and birds only as boiled and fried." Characteristically, there were few descriptions of nature in the author's works.

Reviews

[Jan-Maat]

A satire on the history of Russia from its founding myths onwards told as the history of a town.

The most memorable moment for me is when the ancient inhabitants of the proto-town having sought advice for the best kind of ruler to have, learnt the stupid ones are best, realise to their horror their they have by mistake (or through their own stupidity) saddled themselves with a cunning Prince., which is itself a retelling of the fable of the frogs who wanted a king and who were given either a snake or an equally frog hungry heron depending on the version of the story.

[Dmitriy Trifonov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such a sad story of never changing Russia. It seems funny while you're reading it as fiction, but then you look around and wanna cry: nothing's changed. Anyway the author rules: the images are bright and the telling is delightfully sarcastic.

[Paul Dembina · Rating 4 out of 5]

The town of Foolsburg represents (in microcosm) the state of Russia and Shchedrin uses this as a way to relate in satirical fashion various events from 18th & 19th Russian history. Various despotic mayors standing in for Russian Tsars.

Thankfully the translators have provided useful notes to help fill in the references for us folk with limited knowledge of such events.

A nice touch was the translation of one character's surname as Trump

[Niniko Jakeli · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

ნაცნობი მომენტები ისტორიის ფურცლებიდან ირონიულ კონტექსტში - good soup.

[Orçun Güzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks God, I have found this book in Amazon! It is a brilliant satire, as I expected. Shchedrin takes a small Russian town with submissive villagers, and presents us in the form of a mock-chronicle (like mockumentary in modern cinema) a parade of town governers, each of whom is a unique weirdo, each of whom has an absurd story of his reign at this poor town. Translator tells us in the preface that this town is meant to be an allegory of Russia - I will take one step further to tell that it can satirize political history of any country, since the ones in power and their bootlickers are more or less the same in all nations. You can still enjoy the story without knowing the hidden historical references - but there are enough explanatory notes.

I was expecting absurdities and found them. There are some points suprising for me, but these make the novel even more enjoyable:
1) It is not a light-hearted comedy like the ones of Chekhov. Background and some events have a strong sense of apocalypse.
2) Total of all interconnected pseudo-historical events may be evaluated as one funny dystopia. (I am sure Zamyatin was an admirer of Shchedrin.)
3) At times, story has shocking fantastic details, some of which are at the border of horror fiction. However, these details do not seem scary when you read in the context - I think that's the genious of Shchedrin.

I read all this madness with a big smile in my face. I must add that I am tolerant to bizarre content and patient enough to decipher formal writing style of the text pretending to be based on official documents. If it is not your cup of coffee, you may find some parts disturbing or boring.

[Христо Блажев · Rating 4 out of 5]

Историята на един град е историята на една империя: http://knigolandia.info/book-review/i...

Книгата представлява фиктивна летопис на управлението на поредица градоначалници на Глупов – селище, чието създаване е пресъздадено по легендарен начин в началото, и която летопис обхваща двадесет и двама представители на властта в периода от 1731 до 1825 г. И макар в първите страници да има кратко представяне на тези абсурдни образи, в книгата са включени само няколко по-колоритни от тях, под чието водачество се случват изумителни зулуми, които пародират руското щение към силна еднолична власт и покорното население, което търпи и дори се радва на всевъзможните издевателства. И което дори при поредица началници, които го оставят на мира, не се задоволява с хубавия живот и трупането на богатство, а само започва да си дири белята – и я получава.

Издателство Дамян Яков
http://knigolandia.info/book-review/i...

[Emiliya Bozhilova · Rating 2 out of 5]

Странно колко актуална е и днес тази сатира от средата на 19-ти век.

Жителите на измисленото руско градче Глупов (да, името точно това значи) населяват и днес куп географски ширини, освен оригиналната.

Незаличимата им любов към бащица/ месия/ избавител от всякакъв вид си е жива и днес. Поредицата осмени градоначалници, експирементиращи волно и безнаказано със собствената си и на съгражданите си глупост (в най-добрия случай резултатът е пожар, в най-лошия - война) са сменили само облеклото и формата на мустаците. Е, и речника донякъде.

В един момент започна твърде много да ми се повтаря, или просто глупостта се поизчерпа откъм идеи. Но това е само в книгата - в живота примерите са неизчерпаеми.

2,5 звезди

[katerina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Супер. Особенно актуально в связи с текущей ситуацией в России.

[Molly Duplaga · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was very interested in this book for obvious reasons - I just finished my B.A. in Russian Lang & Lit. I especially enjoyed the concept of this short novel because it is based on an old historical document commonly called in English the ‘Primary Chronicle’. I won’t bore with the details, but this document is foundational to the history of East Slavs (Ukraine, Belarus, Russia) and it ALSO ties this history to Orthodoxy/Christianity. (Funnily enough, I took an entire seminar on the medieval time period and this document!! lol). So to read a political satire of this historical-religious document felt VERY silly. Pretty much every chapter has “blasphemous” content - like women being mayors, adultery, profanity (of course) - and its more fantastical elements are a mockery of the religious miracles in the Chronicle. To add a layer, throughout each chapter is the voice of “the Publisher”, who is actually the author himself reading and summarizing this satirical version of the Chronicle. This would have been a brilliant form of satire at the time of its publication, and I admire it myself as well. Even without all this background knowledge, I think this novel is still clearly satirical of government corruption, religion, the frivolity of man, etc. that are easily connected to today. I understand this is an incredibly biased recommendation BUT if it already hits certains likes you have in books - a fun read indeed! (rhyme inspired by how the characters speak in the translation).

At times I was not the biggest fan of some translation choices, but also Pevear and Volkhonsky are legends and I’m grateful for them to have continued their work of revitalizing Russian classics.

Thank you to Vintage and Netgalley for the DRC.

[Alana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would have been so much better if I was a Russian living in the 19th century, probably would've laughed my socks off!

[Leonid · Rating 1 out of 5]

Прекрасно осознаю, что книга сверх актуальна и злободневна для сегодняшней России (очень надеюсь, что когда-нибудь она эту злободневность потеряет =)), но читать было слишком тяжело, неприятно и совсем не весело.

[Turkish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Видимо, знал Михаил Евграфович, что говорил, насчет своего сна и просыпания через сто лет. Потому как читаешь и кажется, что как-то, в сущности, многое осталось нетронутым со времен Салтыкова-Щедрина. Короче, метко, смешно, ядрено. Что еще нужно?

[zunggg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This 1870 novel is essential reading for anyone who wakes up in the morning and says to themselves “why is Russia so historically, permanently, irredeemably fucked up?” (which is surely most of us). The title alone tells us we’re in microcosm country here, and Saltykov is a satirist of the sledgehammer, rather than the stiletto, persuasion. His annal of mad mayors covers all the bases of bad governance — hubris, solipsism, sadism, greed — and he doesn’t neglect the intrinsic role of the Russian psyche in its production line of kakistocracies. It’s also of obvious relevance to the political disasters currently underway in various western countries, and the translators hammer this home by (surely somewhat tenuously despite their footnoted protestations) rendering the name of one minor nincompoop as “Trump”.

With its penchant for the absurd/fantastic (e.g. the “Music Box” mayor whose head contains… a music box) it’s plum in the lineage of Gogol and modern iconoclasts like Sorokin. So I should love it — but too much of the satire dissipates into essayistic aridity as Saltykov labors to elucidate his point. The brutally unsubtle character names don’t help. There are some very funny and one or two quite terrifying portraits here — Final Boss Sullen-Grumble would surely be embraced by DOGE for his ideology of antihuman ignorance, nihilism and infantile vandalism — but I prefer my satire slyer and more seditious.

[Michelle Graf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday for the ARC.

This is such a weird satire of Russian history and politics, yet still so relevant to current events worldwide. It has the absurdity of an old folktale, where strange and fantastical elements are treated as normal, and uses this to mock the pattern of the poor masses blindly following a series of mayors, each proving more idiotic and egomaniacal than the last. It's funny, but also a very grim view of the direction we're heading in.

[Jos Olsthoorn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Te weinig informatie over het personage Matrjonka-met-de-neusgaten om vier sterren te verdienen.

[kavreb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably requiring familiarity with pre-20th Russian history and contemporary (to the book) politics for better understanding, but even with layman’s overview (or very little indeed) the book shines with its satire and sharp takedown of authoritarianism, totalitarianism, bad leadership, blind following of others, and overall lack of critical thinking (though it's also aware of the dangers of critical thinking under authoritarian leaders).

One wonders why the Soviets loved the book so much considering the last chapter feels like it was written about the Soviet Union, but as the book says, humans can be pretty stupid.

Sometimes difficult to read, partly because of my lack of familiarity with the events satirised here, partly because the writing tends to meander and avoid direct storytelling, and partly because the absurdity got a bit too much for me sometimes. But then again, the absurdity is part of the point - the extremity of the madness, cruelty and stupidity so much so that it becomes unreal.

And yet there's an undercurrent of bloody reality as people are tortured, beaten, abused, jailed, and put through suffering inscribed in our actual history. A stupid man executing a smart man for saying a humanistic thing is all too familiar to anybody who knows anything about the history of human society.

It's also often darkly amusing, sometimes outright hilarious. You can look at the awful things the people do here, and both cry and laugh. Well, you probably won't outright cry because there isn't much emotional connection to anybody, but there is darkness in the awareness of actual suffering. And then you'll probably laugh again at what the hell these idiots did now.

A brilliant book, and surprising any regime found it acceptable - cause if there's one thing all these different leaders share, it's that they're stupidly selfish and as doomed as the fools around them. The only difference being they'll ride to hell on a better carriage on the backs of others - and let's not forget it when another fool comes promising heaven and hell.

[I'm_walking · Rating 5 out of 5]

Русские идут и зажигаются огни
Русские идут напомнить русским, кто они
Русские идут разврат с насильем запрещать
Русские идут не только русских защищать

[Дмитрий · Rating 5 out of 5]

отличная сатира, посему пугающая. Слушал в озвучке Александра Клюквина - бесподобно

[Ed Erwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Satire of Russian history. Funny in spots. Probably more fun for people who know more of the history and those who can read it in the original language.

I used the 2024 translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, which seems fine, and has lots of footnotes to help those of us who do not know Russian history.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little disappointing because it really was not a novel at all. More of a stream of consciousness chronicle of mayoral corruption and ineptitude in the town of Foolsburg. The Foolsburgians themselves are depicted as victims but also dipshits that crave the very despotic rule that forces them to suffer. Thankfully, we live in a much more enlightened time.

[Alexander Kuzmichev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Взялся за книгу, так как на днях услышал неортодоксальную версию, что Маркес, работая над «сто лет одиночества», в том числе, вдохновлялся этой книгой. Ну теперь я практически в этом не сомневаюсь - история одного города, магические события, являющиеся банальной нормой, эпохи дождей сменяются эпохами пожаров, городничий, который умеет говорить только две фразы «не допущу» и «разорю», тк в голове у него механический органчик вместо мозгов. Это и правда сто лет одиночества в российской империи

[Arno Mosikyan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Для того чтобы воровать с успехом, нужно обладать только проворством и жадностью. Жадность в особенности необходима, потому что за малую кражу можно попасть под суд."

Интересный анализ книги: https://polka.academy/articles/500
Интересная дискуссия: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMHuA...

[Michael Samerdyke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so glad I took a chance on this book.

I almost didn't, because while I knew this was a Russian novel, the book seems to want to disguise that, with a Germanic title and a French painting on the cover.

However, this book is a delight, especially if you have studied Russian history.

I had never read Saltykov-Shchedrin until this autumn, but I had known of him. I wish I had read him earlier.

"Foolsburg" is extremely funny. I laughed out loud many times during this book, and I read several passages to my wife. It helps when you know the author is spoofing Alexander I and his liberal and then reactionary advisors, but I think even if the reader didn't, the absurdity would make the reader laugh.

Oh, how I wish I had read this novel years ago. (This is very different from "The Golovlyov Family," the other Saltykov-Shchedrin novel I've read. That is proper novel. "Foolsburg" is more a parody of history.)

If you are interested in Russia, you MUST read this book.

[Egor Reznichenko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Сатирическая повесть о российской действительности. Тонкие наблюдения автора, продуманная композиция и универсальность нарратива делает повесть скорее мифологическим конструктом, который воплощался тогда и повторяется сегодня. Можно поменять имена и реалии - содержательных изменений почти не будет.

[Mert Berke Gür · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bolca hiciv ve taşlama içeren bu yapıt maalesef göndermeleri anlamak için Rusya tarihine ve siyasi yapısına hakimiyet gerektirmesi ve yazarın ustalıkla yaptığı kelime oyunlarının çeviride yer bulamaması sebebiyle değerini yitirdi ve beklentimi tam karşılamadı.

[Javid Jafarov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Гениально!!! «Не потерплю, уволю»👍

[Valentina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Сколько лет должно пройти, чтоб она устарела?

[nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited when I started this book, because it was an departure in tone from any other Russian lit I had read, though just as old. I suppose I generalize with a thick brush, but Nabokov and Doestoyevsky, whose works I have enjoyed, leave me to consider 1800s Russia with grim colour. So to inject satire and even whimsy into such a scene makes the read interesting, because I did not know where it was going, and enlightening, because it provided a new lens through juxtaposition.

Now I rate three stars because of the following pitfalls:
- Much of the story felt repetititve. I'm sure this was intentional to a degree, to indicate that men and politics seldom change, but the formula grew stale.
- The writing was beautiful and undeniably sophisticated, but made for hard reading that frankly made me lose focus at times. Re-reading a run on sentence, no matter how eloquent, with advanced use of punctuation grew old too.

I think the prescience of this book and how it applies to modern world leaders gives provides this book with its stars. Also I did not read the footnotes at the end, and they made clear much of the genius of Saltyjov because I could never have known just how much read Russian history was referenced in the characters.

Cool read, wouldn't really recommend it though.

[Me, My Shelf, & I]

(in a list of Foolsburg mayors)

18. Du Chariot, Viscount Angel Dorofeevich, of French origin. Liked to dress in woman’s clothes and feast on frogs. On closer inspection turned out to be a girl. Exiled abroad in 1821.

DNF @ 13%

The most important thing I have to say about this book is this: absolute props to the cover designer. That is a work of art. I love the bold, neon colors for the title, the juxtaposition with the zoom from an old painting, and the artful way they threaded the nose to peek in between the letters. Genuis. Art.

As for the book itself, I'm in a bit of a pickle. On the one hand I really appreciate the satire and politics and the sarcastic tone to all of the commentary. That's 100% my jam.

On the other hand, this is very much written by someone with a vocabulary who wants you to know about their vocabulary. And the sentences are often arranged in a very I-get-paid-by-the-word sort of way. It meanders in a way that's not akin to delightful tangents of interesting anecdotes, but more in the way where I forget where the sentence was going by the time we reach the end of it. Not ADHD friendly, unfortunately, and a bit too old-timey floral in the prose.

[Blazz J · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5. Ščedrin se je otepal oznake zgodovinska satira, kakršno ji je prilepila sočasna, nadvse resna literarna kritika. Določeno je pač tako, če se pisatelj odloči pisati besedilo v obliki letopisa, mora biti to najresnejše in naj(z)veličastneje možno, edino pravo podobo mestu daje "mestna glava". Mestece, nekje med Moskvo in Peterburgom je imelo nekje med Katarino II. in Aleksandrom I. za upravitelje mestne zgodovine take velmože, da ne bi le bralci, temveč še sama "historia" prasnila v manični krohot. Nek vsak, ki je bil od Carstva dan, bi moderniziral že pred samo modernizacijo, drug bi ga spremenil v vaško versko blazno sekto.