About the book: 2009 / In this story Gazdanov, one of the first among Russian emigrant writers, “cultivates” foreign characters in his prose, masters the “alien” French , “territory”, tradition - Zola and Maupassant, which he especially valued (it is noteworthy that, unlike the French, who consider Zola a “canonical” French writer, Gazdanov, like other Russian writers, gives a clear preference to Maupassant). For the first time - World and Art. Paris. 1930. No. 9. pp. 3–4. Published from this edition.