Abstract
A number of readers have suggested that we'should consider lightening the tone of this journal by the inclusion of that inevitable by-product of all repressive regimes – the political ancedote.
We quite agree that one does not have to be humourless when treating a serious subject and will therefore, beginning with this issue, print a few examples of this particular brand of humour in each number of
Before reading on, readers might also like to ponder the following passage from Andrei Sinyavsky's essay, ‘The Literary Process in Russia’, which appeared in the first issue of Kontinent last October: