The Merchant Has Come

The well-known satirist Nikolai Alexandrovich Leykin once again demonstrates his talent, as always by turning to sharp social topics. With precision and biting wit—so that it’s impossible not to laugh—he describes all sorts of types of society from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Russia at the turn of eras experienced gradual but inevitable changes. Less and less real power belonged to the nobility, while merchants gained influence. The author does not give this phenomenon a one-sided assessment, trying to show the situation from different viewpoints. Vivid, lively images draw you into experiencing together with them the story of change and of how today’s “masters of life” bought up the property of yesterday’s. Even if the events described seem far from our time, only the scenery changes—the people remain. Like Leykin’s other works, this novel is a true encyclopedia of the life of the Russian people—not only what it was like at the end of the 19th century, but also what it is like now, in the 21st century. Funny and sad, sharp-satirical and lyrical lines of this work probably won’t leave anyone indifferent.