Russia's Best Short Stories (Illustrated)

“It is some such joy that the man who truly loves the noblest in letters feels when tasting for the first time the simple delights of Russian literature.”

“The whole of Russian literature is simplicity, naturalness, veraciousness.”

From Chekhov to Gorky, Pushkin to Dostoyevsky, Russian writers have long been celebrated for their excellent short fiction. Even Tolstoy, the author of War and Peace, one of the longest novels ever written, wrote short stories. These Russian storytellers, along with others, are represented here by nearly a score of stories. Acting as translator and editor, Thomas Seltzer selected these as the very best examples of Russian short fiction (including three stories by Anton Chekhov, whom Raymond Carver declared to be “the greatest of all short story writers”).

Thomas Seltzer is best known as a Russian-American translator and editor. Born in Russia, he moved to the United States with his family as a child. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, then did his postgraduate studies at Columbia. With his skill in multiple languages (Russia, Polish, Italian, Yiddish, French, German, and English), he was readily hired as a translator. He worked as a journalist for such magazines as Harper’s Weekly. He is credited with introducing the writings of D.H. Lawrence to America.