And Other Stories Of Communist Russia by Zoshchenko Mikhail

Author:Zoshchenko,Mikhail.
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Literature, LANGUAGE. LINGUISTICS. LITERATURE
Publisher: The University Of Michigan Press
Published: 2010-10-18T12:40:11.578000+00:00

Still, you know, it is well that in the sense of the poets, as it is said, God has blessed our house. It is true we have one tenant, Tsaplin, who writes verses, but in addition he's a bookkeeper, and, to top it all off, he's such a lout, I don't mind saying, I'm not even sure whether I should be mentioning him on Pushkin's anniversary. The other day he comes into the Co-op and he's theatening: "I," he yells, "will bury you, you long-tailed devil, if you don't move my stove for me before Pushkin's anniversary. I," he says, "am stifling from the fumes because of that damn stove and I can't write poems." I say: "Even taking into account how delicate relationships with poets are, I can't have your stove

moved for you in the time specified because our mechanic has taken off." So that's why he's yelling. Hauled off after me.

Praise be, that among our tenants there aren't still more cadres of writers and such like, you know. If there were, they'd be nagging about stoves like this Tsaplin.

Well, so what if he can write verses. In that case, I, too, and my seven-year-old nephew can bring some pretensions to bear on the Co-op. At my place, he writes too. And some of his verses aren't at all bad:

We children like the time when the bird is in the cage;

But we don't like those folk who against the Five-Year-Plan rage. f

Seven years old he is, and look how he writes! But still that doesn't mean I want to compare him with Pushkin. Pushkin is one thing, and the stifling tenant Tsaplin is another. A scoundrel like that! You see, my wife is coming in, and he's after me. "I," he yells, "am going to stick your head into my stove right this moment." Well what is this, I ask you?! Here the Pushkin anniversary is approaching, and he's setting my nerves on edge like that.

Pushkin writes so that his every line is beyond perfection. For a tenant of genius like that, we would move his stove even in the fall. But here we're supposed to be moving it for this Tsaplin — at this, I am thunderstruck.

A hundred years have passed and still Pushkin's verses call forth our astonishment. But, if you'll excuse me, where will Tsaplin be a hundred years from now? Such a rascal! ... Or if this Tsaplin had been alive a hundred years ago? I can imagine what he would have been like in those days and in what form he would have come down to the present!

Speaking frankly, I would have been a Dantfes to this Tsaplin, and I'd have drilled him full of lead. My second would have said: "Shoot at him once" But I would have let go with all five bullets, because I don't like scoundrels.

Great poets of genius die before their time, but this scoundrel Tsaplin remains, and he's still around to wear out our nerves.

However, it is fitting that we move his stove, so that a hundred .

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.