Yuri Olesha was a major figure in Soviet Russian modernism, known for his meticulous craftsmanship, original imagery, and unexpected perspective. He enjoyed great success as a journalist in the 1920s and with the publication of his two best-known works, Envy (1927) and Three Fat Men (1928), but subsequently fell out of favour with the official literary establishment. Though a member of the Soviet Writers Union, he did not write according to their expectations and was not published for many years. He died in Moscow in 1960.