The story of one city. Saltykov-Shchedrin M.

“History of one city” is one of the most famous works of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin (1826–1889). The picture of Russian life is presented here in the history of the fictional city of Glupov. Turning to science fiction and grotesque, Saltykov-Shchedrin created a whole gallery of the replacement of each other, the Stupovskiy mayor. For these funny, and sometimes terrible images, the rulers of the Russian state, its true history, are easily guessed.

“His laughter of grief and harsh, his mockery often offends,” wrote about Saltykov-Shchedrin Turgenev. “This is a natural manifestation of his character, in which the inner kindness and sensitivity are hidden under external severity.” The first publication of the novel (1869–1870) caused a violent polemic in the press. Responding to the reproaches of critics, Saltykov-Shchedrin wrote: “Maybe I'm wrong, but in this case, a hundred times not right reality...”

in the present edition “The History of one City” is published with illustrations Mikhail Kupriyanov, Porfiry Krylov and Nikolai Sokolov - outstanding Russian artists who jointly worked under the creative pseudonym of Kukryniks. For the first time, their illustrations for the novel were published in 1939; Later, in 1981, artists processed this cycle, expanding it and making illustrations with color.