Envy

This novella, published in 1927, is set in Moscow. The central character, Nikolai Kavalerov, is a young man consumed by envy of the model Soviet citizen, Andrei Babichev, who happens to be his benefactor. Communism is being shown in the novella to be a crushing of individual egos for the collective good. The book is remarkable for containing one of the earliest detailed accounts in literature of an international football match (actually between a Moscow XI and a German workers’ club) on 21 May 1927.

The author, Yuri Olesha (born 3 March 1899), was born in Elizavetgrad in central Ukraine and grew up in the port city of Odessa. He began writing while in secondary school. He began studying law in 1917 but interrupted his studies to serve as a volunteer in the Red Army during the civil war. He subsequently became involved in the Zelenaya Lampa ('green lamp') literary circle in Odessa, a group that included other writers of this generation, including Ilya Ilf and Valentin Kataev. His first literary output (a short story) was published in 1922. In the same year, he moved to Moscow to write for Gudok, a workers’ newspaper. Two collections of poetry appeared in 1924 and 1927. This, his first novel, was published in 1927 and several works of short fiction and drama followed its success. His autobiography was published posthumously in 1965.

The struggle between individualism and collectivism is often described in the novella in terms of warfare:
“ ‘Against whom are you waging war, scoundrel?’ you shouted to your brother. I don't know whom you had in mind: yourself, your party, your factories, stores, apiaries — I don't know. But I'm waging war against you: against the most ordinary lord, egoist, sensualist and dullard, assured that everything will come off all right for him.”

The Dark Valley

This collection of short stories, published in 1927, is set in Armenia, mostly in the mountain eastern province of Zangezur. In the story ‘The Apricot Field’, the author tells of how this particular field “would have nothing of value to be remembered by had it not been stuck between the endless fights of two villages Mir and Mrots”. (The same could presumably be said of Lone Pine Ridge or Hill 60.) When Armenia comes under Soviet rule, it appears a resolution is in sight with the view that “the land belongs to the worker”. When, however, a land surveyor has examined the case, his verdict is entirely in support of Mir due to it being “poor and deprived of land”. It is up to the people of Mir to see beyond their territorial gain to an outcome of peace for both communities.

The author, Aksel Bakunts (né Aleksandr Tevosyan, born 13 June 1899), grew up in Goris in eastern Armenia. In 1910 he was sent to study at the Gevorgian Seminary in Etchmiadzin on account of his academic promise. His first published writing appeared in 1915 while still a student there. From 1916, he served as a volunteer in the Armenian forces against the Ottoman army, fighting in the battles of Erzurum, Sardarabad and Kars. He studied in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv from 1920 to 1923  before returning to his native Zangezur. He settled in Yerevan in 1927 and in the same year his first collection of short stories was published. A second collection appeared a year later. He was prolific in writing short fiction and screenplays in the early 1930s before his writings brought him under suspicion. He was imprisoned by the Stalinist regime in 1936, along with his literary friend Yeghishe Charents, and was executed on 8 July 1937.

When the Soviet authorities determine that Mir should be granted possession of all of the Apricot Field, the news has a huge impact of the neighbouring community of Mrots:

“Even though that sheet of paper was small and quite common, it produced more noise in Mrots than the biggest bomb in the world would have. They came, looked at the paper and touched it. Even though many were illiterate, they passed on the paper to the next person as if it were a piece of hot tin that had burned the fingers of the one who had touched it.”
The people of Mir, however, were equally uncomfortable, complaining that the outcome had happened too fast. They submit a request to the authorities to rectify the situation:
“Give us half of the Apricot Field”.
It's reasonable to think that the author deliberately gave one of the villages a name that is the same as the Russian word that can mean either world or village or peace, depending on the context.