With the term “beautiful epoch”, the author means those ten eventful years
following the death of the Leader. The word “beautiful” is meant ironically,
because this decade, of course, saw both good and bad things.
Nevertheless, what a time it was! How many hopes there were!.. What a sense of an approaching festivity!... How many events! Remember!.. The
Twentieth Party Congress... The
first satellite!.. Man in space!.. With
Pushkin’s words: “How the Russian heart throbbed at the word ‘Fatherland’.”
And the miracle of art! Wherever you look, suddenly... and the tremendous
literature!.. A brilliant galaxy of poets!.. New theatres... The great cinema!..
