Iurii Olesha : his encounter with Soviet culture

Abstract

Even on his deathbed Olesha played at being king. This was in character. His life had been spent hastening about the Soviet landscape, together with an incongruous baggage of crown jewels and royal robes, looking for his kingdom. the realm where he would be recognized as lord, where the currency would be metaphors and dreams, where machines would be proscribed by law, and circuses would play all the year round. He declared several times that he had sighted it on the horizon, but it always proved to be a false alarm. So he died still playing the part.