"History of a Town" is an acmatic point of Saltykov-Schedrin satirical skill. It is a direct travesty of a Russian history of the XIX century. The main idea is the relationship between of common folks and the Russian authorities. Town of Glupov is an allegorical symbol. A novel, written as a chronicle, describes a specific place with its own fairy tale history, however all the characters and everything, which goes on there remind us of real Russian history. The author shows us such inherent Russian problems as despotism, poverty, lack of precaution or optimism and so forth. His satire gives us a warning about the dangers he foresees in the future social development. Deriding the Russian past, the author is trying to prevent us from repeating the same errors in the future.
