Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin
Description
Mikhail Yevgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin (Russian: Михаи́л Евгра́фович Салтыко́в-Щедри́н), born Mikhail Yevgrafovich Saltykov and known during his lifetime by the pen name Nikolai Shchedrin (Russian: Николай Щедрин), was a major Russian writer and satirist of the 19th century. He spent most of his life working as a civil servant in various capacities. After the death of poet Nikolay Nekrasov, he acted as editor of a Russian literary magazine Otechestvenniye Zapiski until the Tsarist government banned it in 1884. In his works Saltykov mastered both stark realism and satirical grotesque merged with fantasy. His most famous works, the family chronicle novel The Golovlyov Family (1880) and the political novel The History of a Town (1870) became important works of 19th-century fiction, and Saltykov is regarded as a major figure of Russian literary Realism.
Books
Skazki
Selected stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer.
Gospoda Golovlevy
"Searingly hot in summer, bitterly cold in winter, the ancestral estate of the Golovlyov family is the end of the road. There Arina Petrovna rules over her servants and family with an iron hand - until she loses power to her son Porphyry. One of the most memorable monsters in all of world literature, Porphyry is a perfect hypocrite and indefatigable schemer who preys remorselessly on everyone who comes near him. Yet in the end even he is destroyed in the emotional and spiritual wasteland that is life at Golovlyovo."--BOOK JACKET.
Judas Golovlyov
Arina Petrova, matriarch of the Golovlyov family, runs a large estate (4,000 serfs) in Russia. She learns that her first born son, Stepan/Styopka/The Dolt has squandered the land and house she gave to him. She was a practical and strict noblewoman, and she banished her drunken husband Vladmir Mihailitch to his room for several decades while she ran the estate. Arina sent Stepan to college, where he was the class clown. He worked in a series of government jobs, but lost them all due to laziness. He returns home after losing his estate. Arina's second child is Anna, who ran off and married a musician named Ulanov. Anna has twin girls Anninka and Lubinka. Ulanov soon abandons his family, and Anna dies of an illness 3 months later. Arina hoped to be rid of her children by giving them estates. She was very upset when Anna died ("throwing her two brats on to my shoulders") and when Stepan returned. Her third son is Porphyry/Iudushka/Bloodsucker; he is an obsequious, scheming son. Her fourth son is Pavel; he is normal and unremarkable in any way. She keeps her family on a very tight financial leash, and they live at poverty level despite their wealth. Stepan, having nowhere to go, sadly travels back home. Arina declares that she hates him, and says "he has been nothing but a worry and a disgrace to me all his life." She wonders who she is saving her money for. Stepan is let back into the estate, but becomes depressed and runs away one winter evening. He is found alive but never speaks again; he dies shortly thereafter.