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But in a way, the history of the USSR itself is an imposter. The original pages have been rewritten many times, events and facts have been freely re-interpreted, and political and military leaders have shamelessly appropriated the military exploits and deeds of people they themselves have eliminated. Only in an Orwellian country could there be this type of literary parody so close to reality: literary satire depicting fictitious imposters fighting among themselves «for a piece of the Socialist pie,» such as Ilf and Petrov’s «thirty sons and four daughters of Comrade Lieutenant Schmidt, Hero of the Revolution.»

Yevgeny realized that he would be taken for a swindler trying to get some sort of benefits for belonging to a noble family, and he asked me to read a story he had brought along that described several generations of his family. I changed my mind when I read through the narrative, and I asked my friend’s wife, who was a senior researcher at the regional history museum, to act as a reviewer (or to debunk the story, if in fact the author turned out to be a clever opportunist). Once I had received a positive review (the researcher was dumbfounded), I presented this unusual story to the newspaper editor, and I came up with a catchy headline: «Napoleon's Great-Great-Grandson Speaks.»