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Here is really a quite nice collection of good satirical stories from the Soviet Union all from around the 1920s era. Though "The Fatal Eggs" wins the length contest and boasts mention in the title (and is very good and bizarre, as well) all of the pieces included are very readable and worthwhile. Entertaining and informing, this is one to pick up for a glimpse into the Soviet life, as well as a few smirks.
Mutated eggs, starvation, revolution, oh my!
Bulgakov is the best and The Fatal Eggs is the most hilarious and perhaps realistic plot I have ever read. It did not seem that well-written, but it is probably the translation, I plan to get all of the other translations to read since I enjoyed the story so much.
Soviet satire is essentially the negro spiritual of the Russians, just without all the hope.
Great stuff. So very Russian. Er, um, Soviet I mean. Probably the Soviet-est of all the stories is "How the Soviet Robinson Was Written," by Ilf and Petrov. So hilarious. A+For the record, this book is 891.7 Ginsburg. Therefore for 2020, two of my Dewey Challenge are done: the 900s and 800s. And this was a library book, not a purchase, so no increase in 2020 book budget.
The Fatal Eggs was cool but most of the others were too short to be more than a novelty
I had lots of fun! Some bits were a bit too short and ended just as it delivered the punches. Nonetheless, brilliant bite-sized humor and satire!
Soviet/Russian satire is very dark and most of these stories are just that. Dark humor but the satire is extremely funny and can be applied to many situations that happen today. The story, The Struggle Unto Death, by V. Katayev is hilarious. It concerns the fight against bureaucracy and inefficiency in government. I would suggest googling the story and see what you think. (It's a ten minute read.) If you like that one get the book and read the rest.
This is an amusing collection of, well, Soviet satire written between 1918-1963 (the title does not lie). Especially amusing is that while I love Russian literature, I really am a baby in terms of my knowledge of Russian history - I have a layman's understanding of a lot of different events, so reading this and giggling made me feel sort of like a tool. I realized that what I was giggling at was probably all the wrong parts, and the actual satirical parts were completely over my head. 'Cause Rus...
Fatal eggs is a good weird story. Most of these are pretty dull however.
Humorous collection of works published by Soviet writers during the era.
This was an interesting read. 'A Tale About the Furious Calaphat' by Vyacheslav Shishkov stood out to me as a the best story in the collection. Most of the stories were humorous, 'The Fatal Eggs,' however being closer to a Jules Verne sci-fi story. But he humor was very mild and as the stories go on it's evident that any biting satire wasn't going to be allowed.
the quality was very uneven, with the longer pieces being quite good, but surrounded by a lot of forgettable short pieces that were 2 to 6 pages.
cannot capture the joy that reading this gave me. stories range from simple allegories to outrageous fantasies with everything in between. Three old women fight over a bag of flour. A rooster-king counts everything in his kingdom then commands his subjects to build a tower to the heavens; as the king climbs the tower, his weight makes it sink. Newly installed electric lighting illuminates an apartment building's decrepitude; its residents get depressed; the landlady promptly rips out the wires.
