Life of a Bishop's Assistant

Life of a Bishops Assistant is a rewritten biography of the 18th century historical figure, Gavriil Dobrinin. The son of a priest, he became an assistant to a bishop before being fortunate to rise all the way to gubernia procurator. Despite the obscurity of Dobrinin, it is Shklovskys narration of his story that takes center stage. Like Zoo, or Letters Not About Love, Life of a Bishops Assistant is a notable example of experimentation with narrative form in the early twentieth century by one of its leading theorists.