From the journalist's diary

The publication presents a new annotated edition of Peroutka' s book published in 1922. Originally, it was a series of loosely connected short stories from the editorial environment, which were printed in the newspaper Tribuna in 1919–1921 under the pseudonym Petr Jefimovič Antokolskij and were later published in an edited book form in the Obelisk edition. The plot of these fictional Russian stories takes place in St. Petersburg during the Russian Revolution, but often relates to events in post-revolutionary Czechoslovakia. The edition of the text is accompanied by a preface that clarifies the historical context, maps contemporary responses to the book, and attempts to unravel the real people who inspired the characters in the book. The editorial note describes the differences between the book and newspaper versions, and also tries to explain why some texts were omitted or significantly shortened in the book version. The following appendices are attached to the texts: texts that are missing from the book or extensive passages omitted from the book edition.