The Petty Demon is one of the funniest Russian novels ever written. It is also the most decadent of the great Russian classics, replete with naked boys, sinuous girls and a strange mixture of beauty and perversity. The main character, Peredonov, is as comical as he is disgusting at once a victim, a monster, a hypocrite and a sadistic dullard. The plot moves from Peredonovs petty quest for a promotion to arson and murder, via one of the most incredible and uproarious scandal scenes in world...