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.”