Kostya and Other Stories

Arkady Averchenko—“the king of laughter,” as his contemporaries called him—had an amazing ability to recreate the absurdity of everyday life of the Russian townsfolk, easily inventing witty plots and creating a multitude of funny situations, dialogues, and improvisations. Averchenko’s humor can provoke a smile even on the lips of the most serious reader. The book includes stories belonging to different periods of the writer’s career: “Old Age,” “Kostya,” “A Smart Brat,” “A Conversation at School.”