The directory «Plots»

Zoshchenko (Зощенко) Mikhail Mikhailovich
(1894—1958)
Stories for children

Mikhail Mikhailovich Zoshchenko was a Russian satirist of the Soviet period. He attained particular popularity in the 1920s, but lived in poverty after his denunciation in the Zhdanov decree of 1946.

He developed a simplified deadpan and mocked official demands for accessibility: "I write very compactly. My sentences are short. Accessible to the poor." Volkov compares this style to the nakedness of the Russian holy fool or yurodivy. This style was much admired by the composer Dmitri Shostakovich, who adopted it as a part of his own persona.

Russia, 1994, Birth Centenary of Mikhail Zoshchenko