Russian & Soviet

For the last 20 years, George Saunders has been teaching a class on the Russian short story to his MFA students at Syracuse University. In A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, he shares a version of that class with us....

Step into the rich history and culture of Mother Russia with this classic collection by esteemed writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky. With his penchant for gripping prose and powerful themes that unmasked the social struggles and intellectual clashes of his day....

The Master and Margarita is one of the most famous and best-selling Russian novels of the 20th century, despite its surreal environment....

Volume 2 of the Nobel Prize-winner’s towering masterpiece: the story of Solzhenitsyn's entrance into the Soviet prison camps, where he would remain for nearly a decade. Features a new foreword by Anne Applebaum....

Walter Benjamin was an icon of criticism, renowned for his insight on art, literature, and philosophy. This volume includes his views on Kafka, with whom he felt a close personal affinity; his studies on Baudelaire and Proust; and his essays on Leskov and Brecht’s epic theater....

"The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing." This ancient Greek aphorism, preserved in a fragment from the poet Archilochus, describes the central thesis of Isaiah Berlin's masterly essay on Leo Tolstoy and the philosophy of history....

In an unnamed dream country, the young man Cincinnatus C. is condemned to death by beheading for "gnostical turpitude." an imaginary crime that defies definition....

Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student, wanders through the slums of St. Petersburg and commits a random murder without remorse or regret....

A work of timeless, bittersweet beauty about the fading fortunes of an aristocratic Russian family....

Легендарный роман отечественного фантаста номер один, переведенный на два десятка языков. Роман, который лег в основу российского блокбастера Ночной Дозор...

Alexander Pushkin's greatest short story....

We (Russian: Мы, romanized: My) is a dystopian novel by Russian writer Yevgeny Zamyatin, written 1920–1921. The novel was first published as an English...

Uncle Vanya is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1897. The play portrays the visit of an elderly professor and his...

In 1851 Leo Tolstoy enlisted in the Russian army and was sent to the Caucasus to help defeat the Chechens. During this war a great Avar chieftain, Hadji Murád, broke with the Chechen leader Shamil and fled to the Russians for safety....

From renowned translators Richard Pevear and Lindsay Volokhonsky comes a new translation - certain to become the definitive version - of the first great prison memoir....

Paterson Joseph, John Hurt, Lesley Manville and Harriet Walter are among the cast of BBC Radio 4's epic full-cast dramatisation....

Новые лирическо-хулиганские рассказы от автора проекта БеспринцЫпные Чтения.Александр Цыпкин – автор бестселлеров Дом до свиданий, Женщины непреклонного...

White Nights by Fyodor Dostoyevsky is a poignant and introspective short story that delves into the complexities of human emotions and the transient nature...

Tolstoy's epic masterpiece intertwines the lives of private and public individuals during the time of the Napoleonic wars and the French invasion of Russia....

История одного города - сатирический роман, написанный в форме исторической...

Alexander Sergeyevich was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.

Anna Karenina is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Many writers consider Anna Karenina the...

Три сестры — одно из самых известных произведений Антона Павловича Чехова (1860–1904), известного драматурга и классика мировой литературы. В центре сюжета...

В романе "Идиот" Достоевский стремился, по его словам, "изобразить вполне...

The true but unlikely stories of lives devoted - absurdly! Melancholically! Beautifully! - to the Russian classics....

Anna Karenina is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Many writers consider Anna Karenina the greatest work of literature ever, and Tolstoy himself called it his first true novel. It was initially released in serial installments from 1873 to 1877 in the periodical The Russian Messenger. A complex novel in eight parts, with more than a dozen major characters, it is spread over more than 800 pages (depending on the translation and publisher), typically contained in two volumes.

Ivan Turgenev was an outstanding writer of the 19th century, a corresponding member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in the category of Russian language and literature. He was the author of philosophical and psychological poems, short stories, short novels, and novellas. Throughout his work, he delves into the themes of Russian intelligentsia and peasant life, showcasing mastery in creating psychological portraits.

The short story The District Doctor by Turgenev, written in 1848, is part of the "Sportsman's Sketches" cycle. It tells the tale of a hopeless love between a dying girl from a noble family and a humble county doctor. Other famous works, such as "Asya", "Fathers and Sons", "A Nest of Noblemen", "Biryuk", "On the Eve", "Mumu","Fire at Sea", "The Wayside Inn", "The Watch", "Three Portraits", "A Strange Story", "The Meeting", etc.

First Love by Ivan Turgenev - a story about real feelings and play. Main character works are passionately in love with the princess, who older than him, but for her a careless young man - just an object of ridicule. Other famous works, such as "Asya", "Fathers and Sons", "A Nest of Noblemen", "Biryuk", "On the Eve", "Mumu", "Fire at Sea", "The Wayside Inn", "The Watch", "Three Portraits", "A Strange Story", "The Meeting", etc.

Drawing on three of the greatest works of Russian literature, this sweeping collection breathes new life into Leo Tolstoy’s legacy, providing contemporary listeners with an easy, accessible way to discover and enjoy this great Russian author’s literary talents. With gripping prose and profound philosophical insights, listeners will be transported to the battles of the Napoleonic era in War and Peace, explore the trials and tribulations of upper-class Russian life and love in Anna Karenina, and uncover a controversial reflection on Russian culture.

The Komarov Case' - is an exciting story by Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov (1891 - 1940), an outstanding writer, playwright and theatre worker. Moscow is in a cold sweat - people disappear one by one, and then the bags with their corpses are found in different parts of the city. According to the same mode of wounds and the method of tying of victims - all these murders is the work of the same person.

Alyosha the Pot is a short story written by Leo Tolstoy (1905) about the life and death of a simple, uncomplaining worker. It was published after Tolstoy's death in 1911 and received high praise from Tolstoy's contemporaries. Without ever calling Alyosha a holy fool, Tolstoy centers the story on his meekness, aloofness, and foolishness. Alyosha's simple life, soft-spoken manner, and calm acceptance of death epitomizes Tolstoyan principles.

God Sees the Truth, But Waits is a short story by Russian author Leo Tolstoy first published in 1872. The story, about a man sent to prison for a murder he did not commit, takes the form of a parable of forgiveness. English translations were also published under titles "The Confessed Crime", "Exiled to Siberia", and "The Long Exile". The concept of the story of a man wrongfully accused of murder and banished to Siberia also appears in one of Tolstoy's previous works, War and Peace, during a philosophical discussion between two characters who relate the story and argue how the protagonist of their story deals with injustice and fate.

A Russian Christmas Party by Leo Tolstoy is about a generous family on the brink of ruin whose mother pins their hopes for restoring their fortune on their son, Nicolas' marriage to a wealthy bride. Nicolas isn't cooperating, for he loves a poor girl named Sonia. Alas! How will they see it through?

Seance is a famouse short story by Mikhail Bulgakov, written in 1922. Published in the magazine "Rupor" (1922, No. 4). The epigraph to the work, created on the basis of the author's life observations, is Mephistopheles' Patter "Do not invoke him!"

Uncle Vanya is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1897. The play portrays the visit of an elderly professor and his glamorous, much younger second wife, Yelena, to the rural estate that supports their urban lifestyle. Two friends—Vanya, brother of the professor's late first wife, who has long managed the estate, and Astrov, the local doctor—both fall under Yelena's spell while bemoaning the ennui of their provincial existence. Sonya, the professor's daughter by his first wife, who has worked with Vanya to keep the estate going, suffers from her unrequited feelings for Astrov.

White Nights by Fyodor Dostoyevsky is a poignant and introspective short story that delves into the complexities of human emotions and the transient nature of romantic connections. Set against the backdrop of St. Petersburg's nocturnal charm, the narrative follows the lonely protagonist through four consecutive white nights, where he encounters a mysterious young woman. As the two form a deep but ephemeral connection, Dostoyevsky explores themes of love, isolation, and the fleeting nature of human connections.

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short fiction in history. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics. Along with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, Chekhov is often referred to as one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theatre. Chekhov practiced as a medical doctor throughout most of his literary career: "Medicine is my lawful wife", he once said, "and literature is my mistress."

The Beauties: Essential Stories is a captivating collection that brings together some of the most remarkable and beloved works by the acclaimed Russian writer Anton Chekhov. This anthology showcases Chekhov's unparalleled talent for depicting the complexities of human nature, the intricacies of relationships, and the nuances of everyday life. Each story in this collection is a testament to Chekhov's unparalleled ability to capture the subtlest emotions and psychological depths of his characters.

Anton Chekhov belongs to the cohort of the most prominent Russian classics, together with Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Turgenev and Pushkin. The rankings of the most read authors, comprising the 'golden fund' of the world's literature, persistently include Chekhov alongside Charles Dickens, the Bronte Sisters, Mark Twain... Chekhov's plays, such as Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard, and the short stories of this collection, are featured in the curriculum of faculties of philology of top global universities, such as University of Oxford, Harvard University and many more.