Vladimir Vojnovich

A talk show

From a simple misunderstanding, a kind, funny story has grown about charming village people, about ridiculous situations in which they periodically find themselves.

Set in a small Ukrainian village during the outbreak of war with Germany in 1941 Private Chonkin, not overly endowed with intelligence, is left to guard a downed military aircraft. The authorities appear to have forgotten about him so this leaves him free to work his chams on the village postmistress, Njura, untill the local militia are tipped off.

When he loses his position as a powerful government minister, Vincent is dropped by his pretty mistress and must begin life anew, without the privileges of power. As he gradually becomes acquainted with milieus which he d either forgotten or never known and a host of sometimes eccentric, often remarkable everyday people, Vincent really begins to start living again.

The mid-60s, the time of the "thaw" after the terrible Stalin years. There was a "golden youth" - dudes in trousers with a pipe, jazz "on the ribs", the first farcers. Two blockheads cheerfully while away, trying the delights of adulthood - dancing, wine, girls. But in the end, everyone chooses his life path.

Pyotr Ivanovich, an experienced site foreman, was urged for a long time to take the position of chief engineer of the trust. They finally talked him into it. But a year later he returned to his construction site, half-jokingly insisting that a foreman is not a position, but a profession.