Arkady Averchenko’s "Bunnies on the Wall," a summary

Arkady Averchenko’s "Bunnies on the Wall" was published as a separate edition in 1910. It brings together satirical short stories from the writer’s early period and is included in the second volume of his collected works. This volume also traditionally includes his third book of humorous stories from 1911, the novella "Expedition to Western Europe of the Satyriconists," and the cycle "Odessa Stories." The author explores human stupidity, hypocrisy, philistine vulgarity, and the social paradoxes of the pre-revolutionary era through the prism of vivid comedy.

Bunnies on the wall

In the collection "Bunnies on the Wall," the author satirizes the eccentricities and everyday vices of ordinary people. The short story "Father" tells the story of the narrator’s father, who had a passion for buying bulky and useless objects: a leaky washbasin, a smoking lamp, and a crazy clock with a giant pendulum, which the mother eventually sold to a junk dealer for extra money.

In the story "Policeman Sapogov," a Yalta policeman inspects artisans. He takes the negative of photographer Goldin and the mirror type of lithographer Shepshelevich as a personal insult and expels the artisans from the city, but admires Leiba Butskus, who sells chocolate through a mechanical vending machine.

"Count Cagliostro" is dedicated to the provincial journalist Balkashkin. For years, he peppered his articles with memorized quotes from the classics, until a desperate man named Korenastov beat him with a stick. "Poison" reveals the drama of a writer whose lover, actress Irina Ryazantseva, brings pompous theatrical clichés to their real-life relationships.

The hero of the story "An Unnoticed Feat," land surveyor Barabanov, convinces the townspeople that he saved Russia from war with Germany simply by staying home twelve years ago. In "Hercules," the mighty wrestler Kostya Makhaev suffers greatly from a reporter’s pompous mythological comparisons and tries to appease him with money and his fists.

The novella "Dry Maslenitsa" tells the story of the popular writer Perezvonov. Tired of his wife’s cloying attentions, he tries to cheat on her, but is met with fanatical adoration from readers and reporters everywhere. In "Magnet," the hero obtains the phone number of a Don Juan actor and becomes the target of calls from angry husbands and jealous mistresses.

The story "Ichneumons" satirizes an avant-garde exhibition and reviewers willing to pay to praise any nonsense. "The Wife" describes a wife whose solicitude suddenly gives way to persistent attempts to ruin her husband’s health immediately after taking out a large life insurance policy.

In the short story "Album," a bachelor buys a bookstore album of criminals’ photos, passing them off to guests as pictures of noble relatives until the deception is revealed. "The Joke" depicts the barber Zyablov, who, for fun, inserts cynical sermons into a letter from an illiterate sunflower seed seller to her daughter.

The story "Lonely Grzhimba" paints a portrait of a wild, giant guest with an insatiable appetite, terrifying the residents of a provincial hotel. "Wine" recounts the writer Bondarev’s trip to a provincial town, where the lofty nocturnal impulses of the local intelligentsia vanish without a trace the next morning, along with their sobriety. "The Patletsovs’ Incident" describes a married couple who hired a burglar to break into their own slammed door and immediately turned the burglar over to the police. "The Argonauts" concludes the cycle with the story of the Samuilov brothers from the town of Stepantsy, who arrived in the capital with weak poetry and found their calling in collecting newspaper ads.

Stories of the third book

In his third book of humorous stories, the author explores the theme of the clash of naivety, hypocrisy, and egotism. "The Debutante" tells the story of a theater director who teaches a conceited accountant a lesson: he dresses him in five shirts and a winter sheepskin coat, smears his face with paint, and forces him to stand against a heated wall in July, waiting for a nonexistent role.

The short story "The Root of Evil" reveals the origins of social aggression using the example of an altercation on a horse-drawn tram that ends with the expulsion of a poor and unresponsive passenger. "Skiat on Stone" tells the story of reporter Shmurygin, who incites a random passerby on a bridge to drown himself for the sake of a sensational story, only to discover that the stranger is a columnist looking for a story.

In "Gossip," the official Aquinas’s innocent swim in the river sparks wild town rumors of the kidnapping of another man’s wife and theft of money, leading to his dismissal from service. "The Fool" recounts a cruel prank played on a naive guest, whom a group led by Podkhodtsev convinces that live crayfish are artificial.

"Betrayal" depicts the moneychanger Vilkin, who catches his wife with a lover, but instead of seeking retribution, is turned into a submissive lackey by an insolent rival. "Friend" describes Dushilov, who undertakes to break up a friend’s unwanted engagement and concocts so many monstrous lies about him that he brings a magistrate into the house.

"Housewarming" is about a wild student party, where the participants turn all the furniture upside down for the sake of a tipsy friend. In "Insult by Action," the official Katushkin causes a legal battle over a handful of confetti showered on him at a ball.

"The Story of One Story" exposes the writer’s hackwork: the writer Pokoinikov has been reworking the same formulaic text about a convict for years, swapping a winter blizzard for Easter bells or a revolutionary drama. In "The First Debut," the ghost of a young orphan boy tries to scare an old money changer, but is met with cynical indifference and moralizing.

The short story "A Trip to the Theater" depicts the petty humiliation of the bureaucrat Kinzhalov, who caves in to a boor on a tram in front of his lover. "Real Guys" describes the criminal exploits of the narrator and the thief Dybin, who burglarize a stranger’s bedroom during the mistress’s amorous tryst. "A Reputable Enterprise" recounts the collapse of a company attempting to make millions by scattering orange peels. "A Stone Around the Neck" tells the story of the professional parasite Pampasov, who fakes drowning attempts and spends years parasitizing on compassionate rescuers. The book concludes with sketches of a provincial flying club in the story "Aeronautics Week in Korkino," where a dispute among shareholders leads to the destruction of a hot air balloon.

The Satyricon Expedition to Western Europe

The story describes a two-month foreign tour of four magazine employees: Yuzhakin, Sanders, Mifasov, and Krysakov, accompanied by their servant Mitya. The travelers begin their journey in Germany, which amazes them with its methodical order, abundance of regulations, and street signs. In Wertheim’s department store in Berlin, Mitya, the servant, gets lost. Despite not speaking the language, he successfully adapts and opens a flower shop.

In Austria, the Satyricon writers observe Tyrolean customs and, due to Sanders’s supposed illness, become stranded in the dreary mountain town of Steinach. Arriving in Italy, the writers admire the beauty of Venice at night, escape the annoying postcard sellers, and swim on the sandy Lido.

In Florence, the companions mistakenly take a ride on a funeral hearse in Fiesole, wandering the streets for a long time and missing their train. Rome greets them with the grandeur of the Colosseum, catacombs, and countless galleries, where the abundance of paintings soon begins to weigh on the weary travelers.

In Naples, the group is pursued by an intrusive guide, Gabriel, who pushes dubious entertainment on them. The characters take a boat trip to the island of Capri to visit Maxim Gorky, learn about the real life of Italians, and tour the excavations of Pompeii.

The Satyricon writers arrived in Paris via Nice, where they celebrated Bastille Day in a state of complete destitution due to the closure of banks. The French tour concluded with a spectacular brawl between the strongman Krysakov and the boarding house staff who had insulted his wife, after which the writers joyfully returned to Russia.

Odessa stories

The series opens with the essay "Odessa," in which the author warmly describes the seaside city, its leisurely pace of life, the openness of its residents, and its distinctive manner of communication. Odessans are portrayed as people capable of transforming an ordinary stroll or a cup of tea into a vibrant theatrical performance.

The novella "The Odessa Affair" follows two real estate broker brothers, Abram and Yakov Gidalevich. They attempt to secretly profit from selling a house and ultimately discover they are unsuccessfully offering the same house to its owner, Ogurtsov.

The story "Kostya Ziberov" portrays a colorful young Odessan. Despite his modest means, he carries himself like a millionaire, dines in royal style on pennies, and makes a splash during a trip to St. Petersburg, winning over the capital’s restaurants and theaters with his feigned self-importance.

In the short story "One City…," the hero finds himself in a nameless town where everyone he meets turns out to be a professional con artist. The swindlers take turns saving the hero from these supposed swindlers, only to end up robbing him themselves. The series concludes with the humorous essay "Notes of a Sea Traveler," an ironic description of maritime rituals, shipboard jargon, and the trials of the Black Sea seas.