Sämtliche Werke 17 : Onkelchens Traum und andere Humoresken

A lively slice of mid‑nineteenth‑century Russian satire opens the collection, merging the mischievous spirit of Dostoyevsky’s lesser‑known comic works with a fresh, tongue‑in‑cheek perspective on provincial society. The first story introduces Marja Alexandrowna Moskalewa, the undisputed “first lady” of Mordassoff, whose razor‑sharp wit and flawless manners make her both feared and envied. She effortlessly dominates gossip, using a single word to outmaneuver rivals while maintaining the appearance of polite indifference—a dance of tactics that reveals the absurdities of social hierarchies.

The second tale, a grotesque political parody titled “The Crocodile,” pushes the humor into the realm of exaggerated bureaucracy, lampooning the era’s conventions with vivid, absurd imagery. Together these pieces showcase a world where humor becomes a weapon, and where the ordinary is rendered extraordinary through clever observation and relentless irony. Listeners will enjoy the clever wordplay and the deft sketch of a society teetering between pretension and chaos.