Status Updates From Cynics (Penguin Modern Clas...

‘Olga does not desire immortality. She even refuses to believe me—I tell her—this tiny monstrosity. With almost poetic inspiration, I describe its pointed little head—covered in a hard skin—like vellum—Our blood, thick and black at first—becomes red and thin—As of tomorrow, gas lamps shall no longer light the city streets—I have bestrewn the second-hand bookshops on Nikitskaya, Mokhovaya, Leontievsky and Kamergersky’