Doctor Saperlipopette

 The story we offer you recounts the fate of the author of the sensational discovery in microbiology made at the beginning of the twentieth century - but in the mayhem of wars, revolutions, and financial crises, it was never utilized, lost in the archives of academies - and forgotten for a long time. The main character of this book is Dr. Goldberg, a chief specialist in internal medicine at the government-run clinic reserved for high-ranking patients in Kiev. As a postgraduate at the Pasteur Institute, he brilliantly defended his doctoral thesis in microbiology. His medical degree was awarded to him in Switzerland at the start of World War I and the 'Spanish flu' pandemic that followed - claiming more human lives than the war itself.Among his Kiev colleagues he is known mainly for his abrasive and demanding character. The nickname 'Grumpy Doctor Saperlipopette' firmly stuck to him at work. Saperlipopette! - the old swearing phrase popular in Kiev was brought there by the doctor from Lausanne, where he studied with the famous physician César Roux, also known for his grumpiness and various curses directed at friends and foes on any suitable occasion. The doctor’s defiantly independent and eccentric manners often made him a target for attacks by the authorities - especially during the early 1950s, the height of the persecution of the so-called 'Zionist agents', when Stalin, stricken with paranoia, suspected doctors of Jewish origin of plotting to murder Soviet functionaries. Many colleagues believe that the very reputation of a daring weirdo remarkably gifted as a physician, saved the doctor from arrest and execution at the hands of the State Security Service. In any case, Dr. Goldberg can be safely attributed to the small group of 'accidental survivors' - headstrong, eccentric geniuses who managed to survive Russia’s revolutions, its wars, epidemics, and the hysterical acts of anti-Semitism that struck the country after the victory over the Nazis. Only by the end of the book will we find out how the doctor managed to endure it all.   The whole story is narrated by the young grandson of Dr. Goldberg, who shares a strong bond of friendship with his grandfather over many years. Герой нашей истории доктор Гольдберг в свое время с блеском защитил степень микробиологии в Швейцарии. Менторы прочили ему большую роль в исследовании вирусных эпидемий - возможно даже в спасении миллионов жизней!  Однако в Киеве, среди коллег, доктор Гольдберг - прозванный ими Саперлипопет - более известен лишь своими вызывающе эксцентричными манерами. Это ставит его под удар властей, подозревающих евреев-медиков в злостных убийствах членов правительства. Только репутация полоумного чудака спасает доктора от ареста и гибели в застенках МГБ. Лишь в самом конце книги мы узнаем, как удалось уцелеть строптивому доктору - что помогло ему пережить войны, эпидемии и припадки истерического антисемитизма, поразившие страну после победы ее над нацистами.   Рассказ ведется от имени малолетнего внука доктора, с которым его связывает крепкая мужская дружба.