The book includes one of the programmatic works of the famous American playwright, Nobel Prize winner Yu. O'Neill (1888–1953). Distinct reminiscences of M. Gorky’s play “At the Lower Depths” are not literal; the author, in a manner unique to him, develops the ideas and reflections of the Russian classic. His apocalyptic motifs are associated with the historical moment (the play was written in 1939) and are supported by the conventionally metaphorical nature of the narrative. The premonition of the death of modern Babylon is concentrated in the multi-valued image of the Ice Seller, which is associated both with the decline of civilization and with the finale of the life of each of the characters in the play.