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Власть сквозь увеличительное стекло фольклора (К 200-летию М. Е. Салтыкова-Щедрина)
He was a great, cruel, and strange satirist. He managed to cast a sharp and evil eye on Russian bureaucracy, despite being a high-ranking official himself — a vice-governor and a general. But he viewed modernity through the prism of Russian folklore, so his characters are half-human, half-fairytale monsters. And he was imbued with a sense of impending Russian catastrophe, when some kind of IT would descend upon life and history would “cease its course.” He was a truly incorruptible official, nicknamed “Vice-Robespierre,” and a writer with a tremendous artistic talent. Considered a champion of autocracy, he was highly valued by communist leaders. But he was simply a good writer with a keen satirical eye, able to discern evil, nastiness, and vulgarity. And a very intelligent man.