"A Hero of Our Time" by Mikhail Lermontov, translated by Marr Murray and J. H. Wisdom, is a timeless classic of Russian literature that delves into the complexities of human nature, love, and the pursuit of meaning in a world marked by moral ambiguity and existential angst. Set against the stunning backdrop of the Caucasus Mountains, the novel follows the life of Pechorin, a young Russian officer whose enigmatic personality and reckless behavior...

Listed among the most beloved Russian plays, "The Inspector General" is a vivid portrayal of human greed and foolishness. Savagely criticizing the political corruption of Imperial Russia, the play tells the story of Khlestakov, an irresponsible impostor who is mistakenly taken for a dreaded government inspector by the corrupt and self-serving provincial officials of a small town in Tsarist Russia. Knowing their own flaws, the officials hope that their...

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...

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 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...

Niketa was seventeen, likable, adventurous, and curious about everything, especially life. He lived in the early 1900s outside a small village in the southwestern part of Russia with his father, mother, and six siblings. They were a wealthy farming family. He was the youngest of the children, and everyone loved him. He lived a peaceful life-that is, until he saved his cousin's life. That day changed everything. He was on top of the world one day,...

The Power of Darkness (1886) is a play by Leo Tolstoy. Forbidden for decades in Tolstoy's native Russia, the five-act play was first, staged in Paris, where it earned praise from some of France's leading critics. Noted for its brutal depiction of violence and desperation, the play is concerned with the universal religious and philosophical themes that inspired such masterpieces as War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1877). Peasant life is often,...

Anatoly Kurchatkin's novel, set in Russia and Thailand, ranges in time from the Brezhnev years of political stagnation, when Soviet values seemed set to endure for eternity, through Gorbachev's Perestroika and the following tumultuous and disorientating decades. Under the surface, ancient currents are influencing the destinies of mathematician Rad, art gallery owner Jenny, entrepreneur (and spy?) Dron, American investor Chris, redundant Soviet diplomat...

Amongst people of the former USSR, legendary singer, songwriter and poet Vladimir Vysotsky (1938-1980) is loved and admired like no other. A recent survey placed him as the most important cultural figure of twentieth-century Russia, and some say he is the greatest Russian poet since Pushkin, others talk of him as the Russian Bob Dylan, or Jacques Brel. His songs championed the underdog, and even today, forty years after his death at a tragically young...

This is an autobiographical story. It covers the first years of the author's writing and creation.