Читать книгу Dado Island. The Superstitious Democracy - Саша Кругосветов - Страница 2

Many authors dream of the career path of Mikhail Efgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin.

Dear Reader, the book you are holding in your hands is yet another story about the town of Glupov, with the only difference being the set: this book will introduce you to the 'superstitious democracy' of the animals on the island of Maidanskar. The town of Glupov has become younger. Times and mores have entered its bounds that Saltykov-Shchedrin could not know about because he did not live to our days. The new, young Glupov has modernised to such a degree that it seems you could feel its configuration if you ran your hand through the air directly in front of you… But how you relate to it, dear reader, whether you fancy trying on the outfit of a Glupovite, and whether you wish to agree with its architects – that is your choice. Doesn't the term 'superstitious democracy' sound somehow familiar?

Well, you will have understood by now.

Dmitrii Volodikhin, Russian historian and author of fantasy novels, literary critic, publisher, doctor of history.

The first term that comes to mind for describing this book is 'sharp-witted'. We need to unpack this: the adjective 'sharp-witted' consists of two parts: 'sharp' and 'wit', or 'witty'. So, this is a book that is both sharp and witty.

Why do they teach biology in schools? After all, far from everyone wants to become involved with animals and birds. Well, the development of the animal world graphically reveals all dialectical laws, including those that govern the development of society on every single level, from the level of the individual to that of government. This is precisely the reason why from time immemorial, animals have been cast as heroes in fables and all kinds of didactic stories. George Orwell staged one of the most famous anti-utopias with the help of the inhabitants of stable and yard.

'Dado Island' belongs to the same genre. It tells in a very sharp-witted manner – sharply and wittily – how on 'a strip of dry land, surrounded by water' that is cut off from the rest of the world, different forms of government replace one another: the totalitarianism of the Zebu bulls, the lawlessness of the lizards that pretends to be a democracy, the authoritarian rule of one orangutan… this story is both sad and funny. It is both educational and recognisable. And all this on the example of animals.

This is why the Zebu bulls and unscrupulous lizards of all nations are trying to ban biology from the school syllabus. They are afraid that someone might make associations.

Andrei Shcherbak-Zhukov, member of the Russian Writer's Union, Chairman of the Moscow City Organisation of the Writer's Union's commission on fantasy and fairy tale literature