Search Results: Books:Slavic Literature:Humor from ZH BOOKS

S. l. (New York): By the Author, 1955. Softcover. First edition, n. d. (ca 1955); 8 3/4 x 6; pp. 64; stiff orange wraps illustrated in black; two small chips to lower corner and fore-edge; thin cut to head of spine; lower margin of back wrap and last several leafs discolored; small handwritten note to title page; illustrated in b&w; very good- condition.Published by a Ukrainian emigre author, the book contains funny sayings, amusing stories, and humorous poems. Many of the entries, and more specifically the larger illustrations created by several young caricaturists, are very decidedly anti-Soviet, including the front wrap one, in which a Soviet delegate, on a trip to a peace conference, looks at his reflection in a body of water and sees the devil.

Moscow: Sovetskii Pisatel', 1990. Softcover. First edition; 5 x 7 3/4; pp. [3], 6266, [4]; glossy pictorial wraps; minor creasing to lower corner of front cover and a small nick to fore-edge; mild age-toning to pages; portrait frontis; near fine condition. Signed by the author with a lengthy and amusing inscription.Zinovii Papernyi (1919-1996) was a scholar, critic, writer, and one of Russia's most widely-known literary parodists. In 1975, his entry on Boris Pasternak in "The Great Soviet Encyclopedia" was the first article in contemporary Russian history to publicly express sympathy and admiration for the prosecuted poet and writer. His scathing humor and his style of "ridding literature of superficial stuff and inflated authority" which have been beautifully portrayed in his current book of satires and anecdotes had him expelled, at one time, from the Union of Soviet Writers.

Moscow: Sovetskii Pisatel', 1986. Softcover. First edition; 5 x 8; pp. [3], 6-350, [2]; pictorial wraps; minor age-toning to margins of covers and spine; several notes to margins of first few pages, else clean; portrait frontis; overall in very good to near fine condition. Signed and inscribed by author on title page.Edward Grafov's style of writing anecdotes is so unique and easily-recognizable, some critics have coined the term "Grafovian" to describe his works. His current compilation is not only a gathering of satires but it is also a portrayal of his reflections on life, and the curve balls it throws one's way.