Valentin Petrovich Katayev , 1897-1986, Russian novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. Katayev's novels portray almost the entire range of Soviet life, from the period of the New Economic Policy ( The Embezzlers, 1926, tr. 1929) through the first Five-Year Plan ( Time, Forward!, 1932, tr. 1933) to World War II ( The Wife, 1944, tr. 1946). In Peace Is Where the Tempests Blow (1936, tr. 1937) he described a pleasant childhood in Odessa against the background of the Revolution of 1905. Katayev's comedies became very popular, especially Squaring the Circle (1928, tr. 1934)... Read more