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The Ivan Aufulich Papers
17. Vera D. Snosevyesteryir and Kondraty Layshens
Continuing the indirect assault on Pyotr Dar Podnar, this year's All-Union Literature Prize was awarded by the Academy president, Kondraty Layshens, to Vera D. Snosevyesteryir, biographer of François Villon. As before, this is not really a fancy by the prize committee for obscure French poets, but rather a rejection of the authors of popular bodice-rippers, Maksim Malseks and Pasha Netembrayss, which is in turn a slap at America, the land of their supposed inspiration, which is really a criticism -- a severe criticism, one step short of a fatal one -- of certain former Politburo officials, notably the afore-mentioned Pyotr Dar Podnar, in disgrace, and Kostya Plenti, already sent "to serve on a collective" (as fertilizer). It is, of course, more devious than blind rejection of all things Western, which is why two successive prizes have gone to biographers of French writers (previously to Ilya Veyunom, biographer of French biographers). In fact, there is an especially subtle twist in this "French Connection"; the instigators appear at first blush to be flirting with memories of monarchism, since the last time things French were in high esteem in Russia was during czarist days. Knowledgeable observers realize, of course, that such a hint can only be a setup, possibly by arch-plotter V. R. Nahtamyuzd for purposes of his own. The relentless pounding on Pyotr Dar Podnar, disgraced but not killed, is surely only a front for more drastic moves on other figures not yet brought down, such as Sasha D. Lvigotfuryu. The fact that Vera is his sister-in-law's third cousin twice removed can only be a distraction for the hapless Sasha.
©1997 Grant Schampel