“Village Aristocracy: Sketches of Rural Life” is a collection of essays by the Russian humorist writer Nikolai Alexandrovich Leykin, first published in 1905 in Saint Petersburg.
At the center of attention are the “rural bigwigs” and those who consider themselves the local elite. Leykin portrays provincial life, contrasting the interests of prosperous peasants, petty чиновники, and landowners.