Mikhail Lermontov's pioneering psychological novel, "A Hero of Our Time", is probably his most impactful work, one which influenced the works of other great Russian authors such as Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy. The novel's narrative is the story of Pechorin a young officer in the army whose story is told in five non-chronological parts. Drawing upon his own experiences in the military, Lermontov creates a fascinating anti-hero in Pechorin, a man who is...

Uncle Vanya (1898) is a four-act play by Russian short story writer and playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first performed at the Moscow Art Theatre in 1899, directed by acclaimed actor Konstantin Stanislavski-who also played the role of Astrov. Reviews were lukewarm at first, but as the play continued to run, Uncle Vanya gained both popularity and critical prowess, and has since become one of the most influential dramas ever produced. When retired...

Notes from Underground also translated as Notes from the Underground or Letters from the Underworld) is a novella by Fyodor Dostoevsky, first published in the journal Epoch in 1864. It is a first-person narrative in the form of a "confession": the work was originally announced by Dostoevsky in Epoch under the title "A Confession". The novella presents itself as an excerpt from the memoirs of a bitter, isolated, unnamed narrator (generally referred...

Ivanov (1889) is a drama in four acts by Russian writer Anton Chekhov. Written in ten days, the play premiered in 1887 at Moscow's Korsh Theatre and was initially a failure due to its rushed composition, production issues, and significant changes made to Chekhov's script. Disappointed but far from discouraged, Chekhov reworked the play to his satisfaction, and the edited version premiered to rave reviews in St. Petersburg in 1889. The play follows...

Subterranean Fire: The Selected Poetry of Natalka Bilotserkivets is a captivating collection that unveils the poetic brilliance of Natalka Bilotserkivets, offering readers a profound journey through the labyrinthine corridors of her creative mind. Bilotserkivets, an accomplished poet known for her distinctive voice, explores themes of identity, love, and the human experience with an evocative and introspective style. Her verses, both poignant and...

Dreamchaser relates stories that occurred during two years in the Soviet military and two years in a Soviet prison camp, the GULAG, as a political dissident. Written sometimes in anecdotal form, they provide a window into both the author's life and experiences in the Soviet Union and the feeling of horror for everyday existence there. The book begins with the harshness of military life, from the bizarre humor of painting living trees to suit a general's...

The more softly the word is pronounced The more ardent, the more miraculous. The less it dreams of becoming a song That much nearer it draws to music. -from "Apollo in the Grass" For the Nobel laureate Joseph Brodsky, the poems of Aleksandr Kushner were essential: "Kushner is one of the best Russian lyric poets of the twentieth century, and his name is destined to rank with those close to the heart of everyone whose mother tongue is Russian." Apollo...

The first poems for this book were written in the summer of 2022, when the horror of the first weeks of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine had already passed, when the Ukrainian Armed Forces stopped the invasion and began to regain territory. In the fall, the aggressor launched missile attacks on civilian infrastructure to intimidate the population, but we are alive, and the poems continued. This book contains poems about war as a part of this...

Valzhyna Mort is a dynamic Belarusian poet, and Collected Body is her first collection composed in English. Whether writing about sex, relatives, violence, or fish markets as opera, Mort insists on vibrant, dark truths. "Death hands you every new day like a golden coin," she writes, then warns that as the bribe grows "it gets harder to turn down."Preface" on a bare tree--a red beast, so still, it has become the tree. Now it's the tree that prowls...

The Guggenheim Reader Series: Russia is the inaugural title in a new e-book series that brings together scholarly essays on prominent themes. The Guggenheim has a rich history of exploring Russian art and the avant-garde in particular; this anthology collects the most insightful and influential essays from exhibition catalogues such as The Great Utopia: The Russian and Soviet Avant-Garde, 1915-1932 (1992) and Russia! Nine Hundred Years of Masterpieces...