A Letter of an Experienced Official of the 1840 s to a Younger Colleague Entering the Service by S. I. Zarudnyi as a Humorous Text

This article examines A Letter of an Experienced Official of the 1840 s to a Younger Colleague Entering Service, a text likely authored by S. I. Zarudnyi. A prominent statesman, Zarudnyi began his service under Nicholas I in the 1840 s before becoming a distinguished figure of the reform era. Despite its historical value, the Letter – published posthumously by his son in the journal Russkaia Starina (Русская Старина; Russian Antiquity) in 1899 – has remained largely overlooked by scholars. Written in the satirical epistolary tradition, the text offers a vivid first-person denunciation of the vices inherent in the Russian bureaucracy. Zarudnyi employs a sophisticated array of comedic techniques to construct the persona of a dishonest official. Utilizing the methodology of the General Theory of Verbal Humor, the article analyzes the text’s specific knowledge resources, focusing on script oppositions, logical mechanisms, and linguistic choices.