The Golovlyov Family: A Russian Classic of Hypocrisy, Decay, and Domestic Tyranny (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781468301564)

A chilling masterpiece of Russian realism that dissects the moral decay of a noble family.

In this scathing portrait of 19th-century Russian aristocracy, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin chronicles the slow, suffocating collapse of the Golovlyov family.

At the center is Arina Petrovna, a domineering matriarch who rules her estate with iron will and emotional austerity. Her children-weak, vain, and spiritually hollow-drift into ruin, none more hauntingly than Porfiry Vladimirovich, known as "Little Judas," whose pious hypocrisy masks a soul steeped in cruelty and self-delusion.

Written with biting satire and psychological depth, The Golovlyov Family is widely regarded as Saltykov-Shchedrin's magnum opus and one of the darkest works in Russian literature. It is a novel of generational rot, where love is absent, faith is performative, and the family estate becomes a mausoleum of the living dead.