SOURCE: Nilsson, Nils Åke. “Through the Wrong End of Binoculars: An Introduction to Jurij Oleša.” Scandia-Slavica, 75 (1965): 40-68.

In the following essay, Nilsson analyzes thematic and stylistic aspects of Olesha's short fiction and finds parallels between his stories and his novel Envy.

1. Jurij Oleša's novel Envy opens with an amusing picture of one of the main characters, creator of the salami trust “The Quarter.” We are present when he gets out of bed in the morning; we hear him singing in the lavatory; we see him doing his gymnastics. For the last operation he is stripped except for jersey drawers, done up in the middle of his stomach by a single button. This turns out to be not just an ordinary button; it has another function too: “The pale blue and pink world of the room is spinning around in the mother-of-pearl objective of the button.”¹

This...