The Manager of ‘The Kremlin’. Illustrated

In The Manager of ‘The Kremlin’, Eve­lyn Waugh presents a concise yet striking tale of exile, chance and social transformation. The story opens in a Parisian nightclub named “The Kremlin,” where the Russian expatriate Boris, once a soldier in the White Army during the Russian Civil War, now serves as its urbane manager. He narrates his journey—fleeing Bolshevik Russia, struggling in America, and finally landing in Paris with little more than a sense of pride and what remains of his fortune.

In Paris, with only a few hundred francs in his pocket and no clear future, Boris resolves to spend one final lavish lunch—an extravagant gesture of hope and defiance against his dire circumstances. To his astonishment, the man at the next table turns out to be the French client whose life Boris once saved in Russia. That chance encounter leads to a job offer and ultimately to Boris’s reinvention as the successful manager of “The Kremlin.”

Waugh uses this simple anecdote to explore themes of fate, social mobility and the absurdities of modern life. In a few pages, he depicts how pride and tragedy can intertwine, how identity shifts with language and context, and how survival in exile can mean adopting a new self in a foreign world. His tone is elegant and ironic—touching, yet subtly mocking the world of clubs, night‑life and diaspora.

Although brief, The Manager of ‘The Kremlin’ exemplifies Waugh’s skill as a short‑story writer: a vivid setting, a crisp narrative arc, memorable characters, and a final line that lingers after the tale ends. For readers of Waugh’s longer works, it offers a glimpse of his talent for satire and moral observation in miniature.