# Proskuróf — Short Fiction character guide

> Proskuróf in Short Fiction by Vladimir Korolenko.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** the beaming Proskuróf, Afanásy Ivánovitch Proskuróf, Afanásy Ivánovitch

**First appearance:** 0001-short-fiction

## Snapshot

A beaming official and something of an artist, who loves his country with a strange love even as his craving to expose the truth keeps degrading his career.

## Who they are

Proskuróf tells stories of pre-reform inspectors and satraps with the sympathetic touch of a true artist, painting his country in unattractive colors while loving it deeply. Offered a fair position in Russia, he refuses, unable to imagine himself anywhere but among the familiar types he both mocks and cherishes. When the narrator recounts the Hollow adventure, Proskuróf drinks it in and immediately regrets the one face not remembered, revealing the investigator's hunger beneath the beaming storyteller.

## In the story

### [IV: A Voltairian of Siberia](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/chapters/iv-a-voltairian-of-siberia)

An examining magistrate appointed by His Excellency to suppress the criminal company; described as honest, energetic, and ruining horses in his pursuit.

### [V: The Exterminator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/chapters/v-the-exterminator)

The examining magistrate, nicknamed 'The Exterminator,' arrives urgently at the station to investigate a murder case.

### [VI: Yevséyitch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/chapters/vi-yevs-yitch)

The beaming Proskuróf; an official investigating the robbery, impatient and morally outraged by the peasants' conditional cooperation.

### [VII: The Inspector](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/chapters/vii-the-inspector)

Leads the investigation, introduces the narrator, and confronts Bezrýlof about the prisoner.

### [VIII: “Iván, Aged Thirty-Eight Years”](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/chapters/viii-iv-n-aged-thirty-eight-years)

The examiner conducting the inquest, initially comical but now serious and dignified.

### [IX: The Investigation Continued](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/chapters/ix-the-investigation-continued)

The examiner, who reacts angrily to Bezrýlof's congratulations about a temporary appointment, withdrawing his hand and denying he is a 'calf'.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/characters/proskurof
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_54_se/characters