Also included are fascinating primary sources and background materials, an annotated bibliography, and discussions of the work by leading scholars Robert Louis Jackson, Richard Tempest, and Dariusz Tolczyk. Combining scholarship with accessibility, this critical companion--part of the acclaimed AATSEEL series--illuminates a great work of literature and will enhance its appreciation by students and teachers.

    "His stories, which deluge us with feeling, make feeling more intelligent; more magnanimous. He is an artist of our moral maturity." This volume presents forty-two of Chekhov's later short stories, written between 1888 and 1903, in acclaimed translations by Constance Garnett and chosen by Shelby Foote. Among the most outstanding are "A Dreary Story," a dispassionate tale that reflects Chekhov's doubts about his role as an artist. Thomas Mann deemed it "a truly extraordinary, fascinating story . . . unlike anything else in world literature." "The Darling," a delightful work highly admired by Tolstoy, offers comic proof that life has no meaning without love. And in "The Lady with the Dog," which Vladimir Nabokov called "one of the greatest stories ever written," a chance affair takes possession of a bored young woman and a cynical roué, changing their lives forever. Also included in this collection are the famous trilogy, "The Man in a Case," "Gooseberries," and "About Love," as well as "Sleepy," "The Horse-Stealers," and "Betrothed." "The greatest of Chekhov's stories are, no matter how many times reread, always an experience that strikes deep into the soul and produces an alteration there," wrote William Maxwell. "As for those masterpieces 'The Lady with the Dog,' 'The Horse-Stealers,' 'Sleepy,' 'Gooseberries,' 'About Love'—where else do you see so clearly the difference between light and dark, or how dark darkness can be?" Shelby Foote has provided an Introduction for this edition.

    The Zero Train has the intensity of Dostoevsky and a love affair as touching as that of Doctor Zhivago." "The setting is Siding No 9, a remote Soviet railway settlement run by the secret police and serving the so-called Zero Train. The cargo of this sealed 100-wagon train is unknown to the employees of the siding as is the train's provenance; some suspect something sinister and become obsessed by the mystery. The attempted disentanglement of the mystery, which leads to madness and murder, is at the heart of the novel. The train itself forms the basis of a dense web of symbols examining the nature of life lived in the service of an ideal neither known or understood, thus allowing The Zero Train to be read as a study of the ordinary individual under Stalin." The novel begins with Don Domino, an old man, watching a now almost deserted settlement unable to comprehend in his gathering insanity that the track is no longer there and that the Zero Train has stopped passing through. The narrative continues as a series of flashbacks which draw the reader into his life and the mysteries of the Line.

    They looked into their past in an unconventional way. After Jacob healed, they had to go on a dangerous but important mission. They finally got a chance to enjoy each other in every emotional and physical way. When Samantha was kidnapped, Jacob nearly lost his grip with reality. The tension between Jacob and his mother-in-law becomes unbearable. She blames him for Samantha’s kidnapping. Will Jacob be able to rescue Samantha? If so, what will become of their life after this horrible ordeal? Will danger disrupt their lives again?

    Featuring exclusive interviews with some of his closest associates and members of his inner circle, this book will go some way towards unravelling the mystery behind the man with the billions. Journalists Dominic Midgley and Chris Hutchins get to grips with the Russian boss of Chelsea FC, who has already spent over GBP110 million on new players since he bought the club in the summer of 2003. Every aspect of his past, present and future is examined -- including his upbringing, the friendships that helped him break into the top ranks of the Kremlin, the business deals that made him a fortune in less than ten years, and the ambition that promises to make him as big a name in the West as in his homeland. Using exhaustive primary research, the authors will uncover the exclusive stories behind the billions Ambramovich made in Russia as Western-style capitalism was introduced by President Putin and why he has decided to invest part of it in a fashionable London football club. The rise of Roman Abramovich from provincial orphan to one of the most powerful men in Russia is a story that has all the ingredients of a thriller: risk-taking, courage, shrewdness, ruthlessness and, above all, a subtle and manipulative charm.

    These stories all deal with the common theme of the awakening of love at unpremeditated time and place, catching the victims off-guard. For the essential flavor of the tales, read Sunstroke, the story of a chance encounter on board ship; and A Night at Sea, perhaps the most unusual story of the group. Russian -- some about cultured people, some about peasants. The market is:- all who like exceptional short stories; all who are interested in getting the feel of one of the most famous writers.

    

    All she knows is that they marked the end of life as she knew it - and a new beginning in the Russian Caucasus.Meanwhile on Deeside, young David Thomas's carefree existence is torn apart by a shipping tragedy which will colour his whole life.A decade later David, now an engineer and working in Russia, meets the young Pavel, just as she is emerging into womanhood. But Russia in the 1930s is no place for young lovers and the story of their struggle to be together is a powerful tale of emotion, adventure, unbelievable hardship and ultimate triumph.

    Amazing in its thematic range and stylistic breadth, his poetry "leaps continents and covers war and peace, intolerance and human striving . . . a passionate and essential edition of his collected poems" ( The New York Times).

    This satirical novel tells the story of the surgical transformation of a dog into a man, and is an obvious criticism of Soviet society, especially the new rich that arose after the Bolshevik revolution.

    His life, too, is the stuff of legend, from his survival of the siege of Leningrad in early childhood to his expulsion from the Soviet Union and his achievements as a Nobel Prize winner and America’s poet laureate.In this penetrating biography, Brodsky’s life and work are illuminated by his great friend, the late poet and literary scholar Lev Loseff. Drawing on a wide range of source materials, some previously unpublished, and extensive interviews with writers and critics, Loseff carefully reconstructs Brodsky’s personal history while offering deft and sensitive commentary on the philosophical, religious, and mythological sources that influenced the poet’s work. Published to great acclaim in Russia and now available in English for the first time, this is literary biography of the first order, and sets the groundwork for any books on Brodsky that might follow.

    Excellent word-for-word English translations on facing pages. Also teaching and practice aids, Russian-English vocabulary, biographical/critical introductions to each selection, study questions, more. Especially helpful are the stress accents in the Russian text, usually found only in primers.

    He has woken up in the living room with blood on his shirt, an angry wife and no idea where he was the night before. After waking to find his boots and overcoat damp on several mornings in a row, Semyon realises his excursions are a nightly occurrence. Concerned for his own safety and for the security of his marriage, he asks his friend and business partner Volodka to follow him on his nocturnal wanderings.The next morning, Volodka gives Semyon a full report. He left the apartment a little after 2 a.m. and walked several blocks until he encountered a tall blonde, whom he kissed and accompanied to her door. But when he visits the address in the daytime, the bemused Semyon doesn't recognise the location. And stranger yet, someone has been watching Volodka watching Semyon.As the adventure unfurls, an unemployed sniffer-dog handler makes a dangerous discovery, a single mother provides breast milk for an unusual recipient, and a vengeful cat is on the loose. All in all, there are some very strange goings-on in Kiev.

    He one day encounters Sherbakov, a wealthy man whom he had briefly met two years earlier, when Sherbakov was a homeless destitute. In the intervening years, through a twist of fate, Sherbakov has become a wealthy man, and the two soon become friends. However, one day the student is arrested, and charged with his friend's vicious murder and the theft of a precious golden Buddha...By turns Kafkaesque, lyrical, metaphysical, and poignant, The Return of the Buddha marks the maturation of Gazdanov's philosophical investigation into the possibility of life lived freely and is every bit as thrilling and hypnotic as Gazdanov's famous earlier novel, The Spectre of Alexander Wolf.