Synopses & Reviews
For fans of fairy tales and the literary supernatural: a unique collection of Russian short stories from the last 200 years In these folk tales, young women go on long and perilous quests, wicked stepmothers turn children into geese, and tsars ask dangerous riddles, with help or hindrance from magical dolls, cannibal witches, talking skulls, stolen wives, and brothers disguised as wise birds. Some of the stories here were collected by folklorists during the last two centuries, while the others are reworkings of oral tales by four of the greatest writers in Russian literature: Nadezhda Teffi, Pavel Bazhov, Andrey Platonov, and Alexander Pushkin, author of
Eugene Onegin, the classic Russian novel in verse. Among the many classic stories included here are the tales of Baba Yaga, Vasilisa the Beautiful, Father Frost, and the Frog Princess.
Synopsis
'She turned into a frog, into a lizard, into all kinds of other reptiles and then into a spindle'
In these tales, young women go on long and difficult quests, wicked stepmothers turn children into geese and tsars ask dangerous riddles, with help or hindrance from magical dolls, cannibal witches, talking skulls, stolen wives, and brothers disguised as wise birds. Half the tales here are true oral tales, collected by folklorists during the last two centuries, while the others are reworkings of oral tales by four great Russian writers: Alexander Pushkin, Nadezhda Teffi, Pavel Bazhov and Andrey Platonov.
In his introduction to these new translations, Robert Chandler writes about the primitive magic inherent in these tales and the taboos around them, while in the afterword, Sibelan Forrester discusses the witch Baba Yaga. This edition also includes an appendix, bibliography and notes.
'This is a unique, beautifully edited book: an essential addition to the library of any Russophile' - Spectator
*Longlisted for the Rossica Translation Prize 2014*
Translated by Robert Chandler and Elizabeth Chandler
With Sibelan Forrester, Anna Gunin and Olga Meerson
Synopsis
This original anthology of short stories covers two centuries of Russian literary tradition, from the early nineteenth century to the collapse of the Soviet Union and beyond, and includes not only well-known classics but also modern masterpieces—many of them previously censored.
- First time in Penguin Classics
- Features an introduction to the history of the Russian short story, prefaces to the individual writers, chronology, explanatory notes, and suggestions for further reading
Synopsis
This original anthology of short stories covers two centuries of Russian literary tradition, from the early nineteenth century to the collapse of the Soviet Union and beyond, and includes not only well-known classics but also modern masterpieces—many of them previously censored.
- First time in Penguin Classics
- Features an introduction to the history of the Russian short story, prefaces to the individual writers, chronology, explanatory notes, and suggestions for further reading
Synopsis
For fans of fairy tales and the literary supernatural: a unique collection of Russian short stories from the last 200 years In these folk tales, young women go on long and perilous quests, wicked stepmothers turn children into geese, and tsars ask dangerous riddles, with help or hindrance from magical dolls, cannibal witches, talking skulls, stolen wives, and brothers disguised as wise birds. Some of the stories here were collected by folklorists during the last two centuries, while the others are reworkings of oral tales by four of the greatest writers in Russian literature: Nadezhda Teffi, Pavel Bazhov, Andrey Platonov, and Alexander Pushkin, author of
Eugene Onegin, the classic Russian novel in verse. Among the many classic stories included here are the tales of Baba Yaga, Vasilisa the Beautiful, Father Frost, and the Frog Princess.
About the Author
Robert Chandler is an award-winning poet and translator from Russian, French, and Greek, and the editor of Penguin Classics’
Russian Short Stories from Pushkin to Buida. He lives in the U.K.
Sibelan Forrester is a professor of Russian at Swarthmore College. She lives in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.