History Literature / TheHistoryOfATown

The History of a Town is a satirical chronicle by Shedrin, written in 1868-69 and published in 1870. It related the story of a certain territory with a center in the town of Glupov. It is ruled by mayors, appointed and dismissed by a greater Russian state, the part of which the Glupov territory is implied to be (that state frequently remains anonymous though at times some historical figures are named and never does much more than appoint and dismiss the mayors). The thing is, most mayors are walking disasters for Glupov. They are cruel, often aimlessly, they form a whole row of [[MayorPain mayors Pains]]. Many of the mayors are grotesque chcracters modeled after certain Russian emperors.

Somehow this chronicle was published without delay.



!! Tropes

* BigGuy: Baklan, the sixth mayor, whose height was 235 centimeters. He fittingly died because of that as he was broken in halves by a hurricane.

* DevouredByTheHorde: Lamvrokakis, ''an escaped Greek'' and the fifth mayor. He was a relatively kind ruler, so no JustDesserts for him.
* FearlessFool: Urus-Kugush-Kibaldiev who was extremely courageous and once took Glupov by storm (being its mayor he did it just for the evulz). The unnamed central (Russian) authority did not approve of this escapade and simply dismissed him.

* HumanoidAbomination: Many of the mayors are physiologically regular humans but several are something else.

* JustDesserts: Ferapontov, the second in the list of the mayors, was torn apart by the wild dogs in the woods. For him it is this trope as he is an obvious villain. He enjoyed public floggings so much that he never allowed to execute them in his absense.
* LandOfOneCity: Played with. In the territory ruled by the governors only the city of Glupov exists. The Russian state outside Glupov is implied to exist as it sends mayors to Glupov. However it does not show itself otherwise though some characters and events from wider Russian history are mentioned. .
* LongList: The list of 22 mayors with a brief story. Only the selected few are treated in a particular chapter though.
* MayorPain: Played not UpToEleven but [[ExaggeratedTrope up to one hundred eleven]]. The best mayors of Glupov were kindly but fabulously stupid rulers (The Quimbies). Most of them were totally incompetent sadists (The Wilkinses, and of the very worst kind).
* MeaningfulName:
** Shedrin is very blunt. The name of the town of Glupov(Глупов) is derived from an adjective Gloopy (глупый) which means simply "silly", "stupid", "foolish". People might also remember it from nadsat.
** Also the names of most governors are meaningful.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: In this case no tsars were harmed. That is some tsars were models for several mayors, while others tsars were parodied once.

* PowerFloats: For marquis Sanglot who was able to levitate. Once he nearly flew away but got hooked by the church spire. Soon he was dismissed.
* ShorterMeansSmarter: Lethally inverted in the case of Ivanov, the 17th mayor. He was very small in stature so he could not fit lengthy acts of legislation (within his body). In the end he burst trying to comprehend one more act of Senate.
* SmurfettePrinciple: Played with. One chapter (out of about a dozen of them) is relating the story of six consecutive female mayors ruling after the collapse of Brudasty who replaced one another with caleidoscopic speed. Of course female rulers were six not one. Still they governed in the row and were treated in a sole chapter, outside of which all mayors were male. It is an obvious caricature of the Russian XVIII century when five female empresses (including UsefulNotes/CatherineTheGreat) ruled nearly consecutively.
* SleepsWithBothEyesOpen: Played with regarding Borodavkin. He always slept with [b]one[/b] eye open and his wife of 25 years was still afraid of this ever-wake eye.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: That's how the chronicle ends. Ugrum-Burcheev destroys the city to build it on the new place. Which results in the collapse of the local civilisation.
* UltimateAuthorityMayor: This is the case in Glupov. Mayors have all the power at the territory. E.g. Borodavkin waged in the province so-called wars "for Enlightment".

* FearlessFool: Urus-Kugush-Kibaldiev who was extremely courageous and once took Glupov by storm (being its mayor he did it just for the evuls). The unnamed central (Russian) authority did not approve of this escapade and simply dismissed him.

* LongList: The list of 22 mayors with a brief story. Oly the selected few are treated in a particular chapter though.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: In this case no tsars were harmed.

* PowerFloats: For marquis Sanglot who was able to levitate. Once he nearly flew away but got hooked by the spire. Soon he was dismissed.
* ShorterMeansSmarter: Lethally inverteв in the case of Ivanov, the 17th mayor. He was very small in stature so he could not fit lengthy acts of legislation (within his body). Ine the end he burst trying to comprehend one more act of Senate.
* SmurfettePrinciple: Played with. One chapter is relating the story of six consecutive female mayors ruling after the collapse of Brudasty who replaced one another with caleidoscopic speed. Of course female rulers were six not one. Still they governed in the row and were treated in a sole chapter, outside of which all mayors were male. It is an obvious caricature of the Russian XVIII century when five female empresses ruled nearly consecutively.

The History of a Town is a satirical chronicle by Shedrin, written in 1868-69 and published in 1870. It related the story of a certain territory with a center in the town of Glupov. It is ruled by mayors, appointed and dismissed by a greater Russian state, the part of which the Glupov territory is implied to be (that state remains anonymous and never does much more). The thing is, most mayors are walking disasters for Glupov. They are cruel, often aimlessly, they form a whole row of [[MayorPain mayors Pains]]. Many of the mayors are grotesque chcracters modeled after certain Russian emperors.

* BigGuy: Baklan, the sixth mayor, whose height was 2235 centimeters. He died because of that as he was broken in halves by a hurricane
* DeathByGluttony: That's how the eleventh mayor amed Ferdyshenko died. No wonder as he liked baked ham and goose with cabbage.
* DevouredByTheHorde: Lamvrokakis, ''an escaped Greek'' and fifth mayor. He was a relatively kind ruler, so no JustDesserts for him.
* FearlessFool: Urus-Kugush-Kibaldiev who was extremely courageous and once took Glupov by storm. The unnamed central Russian authority did not approve of this escapared and dismissed him.

** Brudasty had a music box in his head, in which only two phrases are recorded: "I won't tolerate" and "I will devastate".
** The head of Prysh (meaning The Pimple) is actually stuffed by truffles. Local marshall of the nobility (the leader of the caste of nobles) incidentally discovers this and eats the head.

* MayorPain: Played not UpToEleven but [[ExaggeratedTrope up to one hundred eleven. The best mayors of Glupov were kindly but fabulously stupid rulers (The Quimbies). Most of them were totally incompetent sadists (The Wilkinses, and of the very worst kind ).

* MayorPain: Played not UpToEleven but UpToOnehundredEleven. The best mayors of Glupov were kindly but fabulously stupid rulers (The Quimbies). Most of them were totally incompetent sadists (The Wilkinses, and of the very worst kind ).

* HumanAbomination: Many of the mayors are physiologically regular humans but several are something else.

* MeaningfulName: Shedrin is very blunt. The name of the town of Glupov(Глупов) is derived from an adjective Gloopy (глупый) which means simply "silly", "stupid", "foolish". People might also remember it from nadsat.

The History of a Town is a satirical chronicle by Shedrin, written in 1868-69 and published in 1870. It related the story of a certain territory with a center in the town of Glupov. It is ruled by mayors, appointed from a greater state, the part of which the Glupov territory is implied to be (that state remains anonymous and never does much more). The thing is, most mayors are walking disasters for Glupov. They are senselessly cruel, a whole row of [[MayorPain mayors Pains]]. Many of the mayors are modeled after certain Russian emperors.

* DevouredByTheHorde: Lamvrokakis, ''an escaped Greek'' and fifth mayor. He was a relatively kind ruler,

The History of a Town is a satirical chronicle by Shedrin, written in 1868-69 and published in 1870. It related the story of a certain territory with a center in the town of Glupov.

* LandOfOneCity: Played with. In the territory ruled by the governors only the city of Glupov exists. Some outside state is implied to exist as it sends governors to Glupov. However it does not show itself otherwise.
* MeaningfulName: Shedrin is very blunt. The name of the town of Glupov(Глупов) is derived from an adjective Gloopy (глупый) which means simply silly, stupid, foolish. People might also remember it from nadsat.