Foolsburg The History of a Town

The award-winning translators bring us a new translation of an 1870 comic novel by Russia's greatest satirist—whose mockery of Russian autocracy is as relevant as ever.

“Pevear and Volokhonsky [are the] reigning translators of Russian literature. . . . In Russia, The History of a Town is read in schools and regarded as a masterpiece of 19th-century satire. . . . [This new translation] is an argument for the book’s Swiftian wit and its relevance to Russia and the United States today.” —The New York Times

A major classic in Russia since its publication, Foolsburg is the farcical chronicle of a fictional town and its hapless inhabitants as they passively endure the violence and lunacy of their rulers. The succession of brutal mayors of the town include such surreal extremes as a man with a music box instead of a brain and one so tall that he snaps in half during a windstorm. Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin marries biting satire reminiscent of Jonathan Swift with the fantastical absurdity of Nikolai Gogol, imbued throughout with his own brand of playful wordplay.

The award-winning translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky have produced the first translation of this work into English that successfully captures its zany humor and enduring relevance.

MIKHAIL SALTYKOV-SHCHEDRIN (1826–1889), known during his life by his pen name, Nikolai Shchedrin, was a major Russian writer and satirist. Born to a noble family, he worked as a civil servant while writing for and editing radical journals, which led to a banishment of seven years. His most famous novels are the family saga The Golovlyov Family (1880) and the political satire The History of a Town (1870).

About the Translators: RICHARD PEVEAR and LARISSA VOLOKHONSKY have translated works by Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Gogol, Bulgakov, Leskov, and Pasternak. They were twice awarded the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize (for Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov and Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina). They are married and live in France.