In 'The Character of Rain', we learn that divinity is a difficult thing from which to recover, particularly if, like the child in this story, you have spent the first two and a half years of life in a nearly vegetative state.

During the reign of Catherine the Great, the young Grinev sets out for his new career in the army and en route performs an act of kindness by giving his warm coat to a man freezing in a blizzard. This action reaps its reward when he subsequently finds himself caught up in the rebellion headed by the infamous, and strangely familiar Pugachev.

This story of a prosperous Hanseatic family and their gradual disintegration is also a portrayal of the transition from the stable bourgeois life of the 19th century to a modern uncertainty.

This volume contains translations of four of Pushkin's best works of fiction. The introduction provides close readings of the stories and places them in their European context

Set in 1820s Russia, this title follows the fates of three men and three women. It offers the reader many literary, philosophical, and autobiographical digressions, often in a highly satirical vein.