I assumed it was a joke about eating (metaphorically) the economy, that is gnawing away at the foundations of the country (not sure where the marriage comes in in this metaphor though)
but I didn’t catch the The Thaw wordplay, so that might be playing a role too, I’m not familiar with that book
You’re definitely right, I was just speculating on some of the specific execution (notably including the marriage, though in The Thaw I believe it was a tyrannical husband (Stalin) dying).
Is the joke that it’s The Gnaw and it’s like that post-Stalin story called The Thaw?
I assumed it was a joke about eating (metaphorically) the economy, that is gnawing away at the foundations of the country (not sure where the marriage comes in in this metaphor though)
but I didn’t catch the The Thaw wordplay, so that might be playing a role too, I’m not familiar with that book
You’re definitely right, I was just speculating on some of the specific execution (notably including the marriage, though in The Thaw I believe it was a tyrannical husband (Stalin) dying).