Summary

“Miss USSR” takes place in the late 1980s, several years after the events of “Letter of Apology.” Konstantyn Illych’s societal and artistic standing has declined, and he now works as the administrator of the Kirovka Cultural Club. He is also lonely, his wife Milena has left him. Recently, Illych organized a local beauty pageant to gain attention and possible further funding for the cultural club. A few months after the pageant, a Soviet cultural minister calls Illych to censure him. The minister says that, following Illych’s example, Ukraine’s national government tried to organize a pageant. The minister also expresses disapproval that the pageant winner—Orynko Bondar—sang a specifically pro-Ukraine song, not a pro-Soviet one. The central Soviet government shut it down, fearing an outbreak of individual nationalism among the various Soviet states. It is clear that the Soviet Union...