The human weaknesses, virtues, and oddities noted by the satirist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin have changed little over the past century. The characters and types from his prose are recognizable even today: the loud, irritating crowds at theatres and other “cultural” events, special people who respond to advertisements right away, those who love giving unsolicited advice, intrusive acquaintances and accidental “well-wishers,” the jealous, the braggarts, and those who love to drink.
The sharp and still relevant theme of epidemics has not been overlooked either—and how people endure not only the disease itself, but also outbreaks of universal fear. Alongside motives that sound modern, the stories also include plots that are important as evidence of the time: through apt everyday details, they create a vivid, living picture of a bygone era.