THE THREE FAT MEN

by Yuri Olesha

Foreword by Graeme Garden

Translated by Hugh Aplin

Revolution is brewing outside the palace walls, and the Three Fat Men who rule the land with an iron fist are getting fatter as the news gets worse. Led by the tightrope walker Tibullus, the revolutionary forces, made up of ordinary citizens and the palace guard, embark on a mission to rescue Prospero the armourer from his imprisonment in the tyrants’ zoo. Meanwhile, Dr Gaspar Arneri is entrusted with a difficult and challenging mission: to repair the precious doll belonging to the Three Fat Men’s heir, Tutti.

Boasting a veritable menagerie of characters, including dancing instructors, pies, and talking parrots, and written in the Franco-Italian storytelling tradition, The Three Fat Men, unquestionably the greatest Soviet children’s parable, is considered the absolute endorsement of the Soviet regime.

Publication date: 01/03/2011