The epitaph of the imperial gourmet is a brilliant miniature novel that works flawlessly on every level of the novel, from the plot and the applied narrative model to the characterization of the characters and the satirical edge with which it kills every
The novella was published for the first time in 1961 in the magazine Novij mir and aroused anger among critics, pointing out that it is only "about the narrow, intimate experiences of the heroine".