The Dream of Councillor Popov (Сон статс-советника Попова; also – Сон Попова) is a satire in verse by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, first published in 1878 in Berlin,[1] and regarded as one of the best satirical poems in Russian literature, mixing "sharp, poignant satire… and pure delight in cheerful absurdity".
It was generally believed at the time that the target of its satire had been Interior minister Pyotr Valuev, a conservative politician keen to create for himself an image of a liberal, by using colourful rhetoric.
[1] It was greatly praised by many prominent authors of the time, including Ivan Turgenev and Leo Tolstoy.
I just can’t help reading you this… and Lev Nikolayevich was beginning to recite Popov’s Dream, causing occasional outbursts of laughter", P.A.Sergienko remembered.
[5] In November 1875 the recital of Popov's Dream was banned from being performed at the evening commemorating Aleksey Tolstoy, organized by the Russian Literary Fund.