{"product_id":"foolsburg-isbn-9780593687314","title":"Foolsburg","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e“Pevear and Volokhonsky [are the] reigning translators of Russian literature. . . . \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e In Russia, \u003ci\u003eThe History of a Town\u003c\/i\u003e 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.” \u003cb\u003e \u003cb\u003e—The New York Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA major classic in Russia since its publication, \u003ci\u003eFoolsburg \u003c\/i\u003eis 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. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe 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.\"There is a Putinesque leader of the town who dreams of restoring Russia’s former glory . . . and a character named Trump (an exact translation of Kozyr), a ‘simple ragpicker’ who takes advantage of crisis to make money and switches from one party to another for political gain. . . . Volokhonsky called the book timeless, adding that, ‘it’s very much bound with Russian history, but it’s also about the human condition’.” \u003cb\u003e \u003cb\u003e—The New York Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eMIKHAIL 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 \u003ci\u003eThe Golovlyov Family\u003c\/i\u003e (1880) and the political satire \u003ci\u003eThe History of a Town\u003c\/i\u003e (1870).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Translators:\u003c\/b\u003e 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 \u003ci\u003eThe Brothers Karamazov\u003c\/i\u003e and Tolstoy’s \u003ci\u003eAnna Karenina\u003c\/i\u003e). They are married and live in France.","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302526275813,"sku":"NP9780593687314","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780593687314.jpg?v=1767727534","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/foolsburg-isbn-9780593687314","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}