Among the mystifications created by 20th-century Russian literature, “The Universal History, Treated by the ‘Satyricon’” to this day holds a unique, undisputed place: before us is not just an enormous farce spanning the whole of human history, but also almost the only example of black humor—especially black, if we recall what kind of continuation that “History” (and simply history) had in the 20th century. The book created by the great satirists of its time—Teffi, Averchenko, Dymov, and O. L. d’Orr—was not reissued for three quarters of a century, and now it’s studied in primary school during extracurricular reading lessons. What amused the sophisticated intelligentsia of the early 20th century remains just as funny (but also instructive) in the early 21st century, too.