Tale of the Troika

Employees of the Research Institute of Sorcery and Wizardry go to the city of Kitjegrad to obtain from local officials the exhibits they need for their work: a bug named Govoryun, a giant octopus named Spiridon, the snowman Fedyа, a Black Box… Soon the heroes discover that the “Three for the Rationalization and Disposal of Unexplained Phenomena” (TPRUNYA) has absolute power, outrageous ignorance, and a caricature-like bureaucracy at the same time… “The Tale of the Three” is linked by shared characters with the story “Monday Begins on Saturday.” But if “Monday…” is a cheerful humorous book, then “The Tale of the Three” is a vicious political satire—sharp, revealing irony in which the Soviet bureaucratic system and the apparatus of power are mocked using grotesque and absurd means.