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The time is February 1949, and the zhdanovshchina--the purge of intellectuals by Stalin's culture hoodul, Andrei Zhdanov--is beginning.

pellucidly translated

In the Soviet Union, Chukovskaya's writings circulate, where at all, by clandestine mimeographs.

Punctuating these homilies are the literal "voices from the chorus"

And, to make matters worse, the good burghers are about to stage another one of their tomfool carnivals.