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 newly relevant in the age of Putin. A major classic in Russia, though not as well known in the West, Foolsburg- The History of a Certain Town is a farcical chronicle of the fictional town of Glupov (which translates to “Stupidville” or “Foolsburg”) and its hapless inhabitants as they passively endure the violence and lunacy of their rulers for hundreds of years. 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. Saltykov-Shchedrin marries biting satire reminiscent of Jonathan Swift with the fantastical absurdity of Nikolai Gogol, imbued with his own brand of playful wordplay. A sort of Gulliver’s Travels of Russian literature, the novel has never before had a translation into English that successfully captured its zany humour; this one will bring it the attention it deserves.
