A summary of Mikhail Zoshchenko’s "The Blue Book"

Mikhail Zoshchenko’s satirical work, written in 1934–1935, is an unconventional exploration of human nature, intertwining historical chronicles with everyday scenes from Soviet life in the 1930s. The author divided the narrative into five thematic sections, exploring the fundamental motives behind human actions: money, love, deceit, failure, and heroic achievements. The author’s concept is built on the contrasting dramas of past eras and the curiosities of modern life, creating an ironic guide to human passions.

The work was published as a standalone edition in 1935 and became the pinnacle of the writer’s mature period. The text is not included in any fiction series and has not received any state awards, but it has earned a special place in twentieth-century Russian prose thanks to its combination of philosophical journalism and feuilleton.

Section on money

The narrative opens with reflections on the transformed role of capital. In the past, wealth determined a person’s status, transforming vices into virtues. Historical illustrations include the auctioning of the Roman throne by the Praetorian Guard in 193 to the senator Didius Julianus for thirteen million rubles, the monk Tetzel’s sale of indulgences in 1514, the embezzlement of the treasury by Prince Menshikov and the diplomat Pyotr Tolstoy, and a list of fines for murder from the "Russkaya Pravda." The ransoms paid by Sulla and Mark Antony for the heads of their enemies are described, as well as the collapse of the Roman Empire due to the aristocracy’s accumulated wealth. The only instance of capital collapsing is cited as the rescue of Benvenuto Cellini — a greedy jeweler gave the master a blue beryl instead of a crushed diamond.

Contemporary stories illustrate petty-bourgeois anxieties about money. In the story of the nanny, a worker begs for alms in exchange for someone else’s baby, seeking profit. In another episode, the speculator Sisyayev, having fallen ill in exile, swallows gold coins to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. The artist Butylkin recovers after his wife Matryona’s scandalous refusal to pay for his funeral without the money she had left for living expenses. A milkmaid loses her plumber husband after marrying him off to a wealthy doctor for five chervonets. Worker Boris Fomin wins five thousand rubles, experiences a series of family dramas, theft, and divorce, but returns to his former life. The section concludes with the story of Elena Grigoryevna, who bought a man’s love with her father’s gold coins and was exiled to Arzamas for currency transactions.

Section on love

Analyzing the passions of love, the author cites quotes from poets and philosophers, from Schopenhauer to Plato. The historical section demonstrates that marriages in past centuries were often concluded out of convenience or diplomatic necessity. Examples are given of the marriage of the Frankish king Chilperic I, a speculator who betrothed his three-year-old daughter to the Marquis d’Ouau, the drama of Philip II and Don Carlos, and the treachery of the Persian king Cambyses, who received a slave in place of the pharaoh’s daughter and conquered Egypt. Love dramas are complemented by stories of Princess Tullia, who rode over her father’s body in a chariot for her husband, Catherine II and Platon Zubov, Mark Antony and Cleopatra, and the wives of the Decembrists.

Soviet stories feature romantic oddities. In "The Tale of the Old Fool," a sixty-year-old office worker marries a young woman, who improves their living conditions by swapping rooms and leaves her for an engineer. Jealous of her husband’s letter, Pelageya, in three months, overcomes her own illiteracy and discovers that the document was from a social activist urging him to study. Engineer Gorbatov, who passionately loved his wife Nina Petrovna and believed in unearthly feelings, experiences disgust when identifying her after her death. In other short stories, Volodka Zavitushkin marries a tram girl and at the wedding fails to recognize his wife without her coat, and an actor finds himself in a chain of absurd coincidences, finding his mistress’s husband and his own wife in someone else’s apartment.

Section on Cunning

The theme of perfidy begins with an analysis of the author’s profession as a satirist. The author notes that perfidy arose from the ferocity of previous rulers and the tortures of the Inquisition. Historical examples include the monk Peretta, who feigned death to become Pope Sixtus V, the poisoning of Emperor Henry VII with a toxin in the sacrament, the tricks of Nero, who attempted to collapse the ceiling and sink his own mother Agrippina’s ship, and Lieutenant Berger’s denunciation of the beautiful Lopukhina. The scams of Count Orlov, who lured Princess Tarakanova onto a ship to Livorno under the guise of marriage, are mentioned.

Short stories about everyday life depict modern manifestations of cunning. In a co-op, a thief janitor exposes the manager and cashier for attributing the loss of an entire warehouse to his petty theft. In another story, residents plant dynamite in a log to expose a firewood thief, but the explosion destroys Pestrikov’s stove and kills the disabled Gusev. Other stories explore cases involving buying children’s boots, dressing up as a foreigner to get a hotel room, and a prank involving calling the Kremlin on the phone.

Section on failures

This section is dedicated to dramatic mistakes and cruelty. The author recalls the tortures of past centuries — quartering, breaking on the wheel, tying to a block, and burning. Historical stories describe King Codrus, who allowed himself to be killed for the sake of a victory over the Dorians that never materialized; Pope Alexander VI Borgia, who drank his own poison from a misplaced glass at dinner; and Empress Anna Ivanovna, who attempted to exchange fifty thousand soldiers for a large diamond. The poet Trediakovsky is beaten by Minister Volynsky for composing poetry for a mock wedding; and the aesthete V. P. Botkin accumulates his fortune, but before his death, he goes blind and is unable to enjoy the paintings he has purchased.

The contemporary section describes a steamship changing its name from "Penkin" to "Groza" and "Korolenko" due to trials of its management. A technician’s clothes are stolen at a bathhouse, and the female manager refuses to help, causing confusion over the search of the thief, Selifanov. In other stories, Kulkov assaults Obrezkin’s visitor in the office, mistaking him for a lazy official; an aspiring poet sells his coat and suit at the market to satisfy his lover’s whims; and relatives attempt to take an old man who has fallen into a lethargic sleep to the cemetery, but he awakens and demands the return of his belongings.

Section on amazing events

The finale is dedicated to courage, lofty goals, and revolutionary achievements. Historical essays describe the exploits of the Decembrist Ryleyev, who embraced his friend on Senate Square before the cannonade; the Rostov tobacconist Liza Torsueva, who pasted a proclamation on the door of the gendarmerie; the writer Radishchev; the Cossack Fyodor Podtelkov, who delivered a speech before the gallows; and the French revolutionary Louis Blanqui. Examples of fidelity to an idea are cited: Diogenes, who asked Alexander the Great not to block the sun, and Mucius Scaevola, who burned his hand over the altar.

The appendix describes Liza, who sought her fortune among writers and foreigners but became a singer. Student Malashkin defeats the physically superior diver Filippov in a fight for love. A bachelor on a train cares for a sick child abandoned by his mother at the station. The final story describes the installation of electricity in an apartment building: the lights reveal dirt and dilapidation, forcing the residents to renovate and change their lifestyle. The book concludes with a dialogue between the author and a bourgeois philosopher about the value of labor, human dignity, and confidence in the future.