Я прошу прощения for anything that might have happened to your head and shoulders.Originally Posted by it-ogo
I am only too aware of my deep incompetence about Russian history (and not only).
All I wanted to say can be summarized as follows.
The Very Same Munchausen was produced in 1979. By the mid-1970s Brezhnev’s mental health was not very good.
So, is there anything that prevents us from thinking of Zakharov’s allusion to his contemporary Soviet leader?
The success of a satirical, ironic allusion may depend on how the audience succeeds in “getting” it. And a political allusion (from ludere ~ to play with, jest) may become increasingly obscure, until eventually it is understood by the author alone.
So, you may be quite right when you say “They [Brezhnev and the Duke] look too different in too many aspects”.