Russian Short Stories from Pushkin to Buida

Apr 29, 2025 5:28 AM

Author:Robert Chandler

From the reign of the Tsars in the early 19th century to the collapse of the Soviet Union and beyond, the short story has long occupied a central place in Russian culture. Included are pieces from many of the acknowledged masters of Russian literature - including Pushkin, Turgenev, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, and Solzhenitsyn - alongside tales by long-suppressed figures such as the subversive Kryzhanowsky and the surrealist Shalamov. Whether written in reaction to the cruelty of the bourgeoisie, the bureaucracy of communism or the torture of the prison camps, they offer a wonderfully wide-ranging and exciting representation of one of the most vital and enduring forms of Russian literature.

Reviews

Beautifully written and very funny. . . as with Salinger and Carver, there is crystalline simplicity to Bank's prose

—— Guardian

I read the first chapter and thought, 'Wait, I know this girl' . . . I realized she was my friend . . . she made me laugh, she made me weep, and when I closed the book at the end of the day, I knew I'd never forget her

—— Ruth Ozeki

Charming and funny

—— New York Times

A smart, ruefully funny chronicle of a modern young woman's search for love . . . a model of well-crafted narrative building to a thoughtful, hopeful conclusion. Bank has created a delightful heroine who deserves her happy ending-even though any reader who has really been paying attention to the sharp, unsentimental details knows that all happy endings are provisional

—— Kirkus

One marvels at Bank's assured control of her material, her witty, distinctive voice and her ability to find comedy, pathos and drama in ordinary lives . . . phenomenally good

—— Publishers Weekly

This chronicle of a New Yorker's relationships has a wit and perceptiveness that singles it out from the crowd

—— Guardian

As hilarious as Girls' Guide is, there's a wise, serious core here

—— Wall Street Journal

A sexy, pour-your-heart-out, champagne tingle of a read-thoughtful, wise, and tell-all honest. Bank's is a voice that you'll remember

—— Cosmopolitan

Bank writes like John Cheever, but funnier

—— Los Angeles Times

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