Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, after reading a new book by Nikolay Alexandrovich Leykin, wrote to him in a private correspondence: “’Stookin’ has a serious meaning and is worth a great deal (in my opinion), and will serve—if not for anything else—then at least as one of the only monuments to the banking atrocities of our time; moreover, more ‘high-order’ birds also appear in it… If in ‘Satire’ [meaning the novel ‘Satir and the Nymph,’ already published by our publishing house] the details are good, then ‘Stookin’ is good as a whole.” It is hard not to share the opinion of this Russian classic and not to be captivated both by numerous intrigues and numerous vivid everyday details that make the narrative so interesting and convincing. A minor bank clerk, Stookin, gets the chance to advance up the career ladder because the bank director, Khrustalkinov, chooses him to pass off his pregnant mistress on his behalf. However, this is not the only opportunity that Stookin takes advantage of…