Centering on the picaresque realism of Nikolai Gogol’s (1809–1852) mid-nineteenth-century visions of the extraordinary in everyday life, this collection mines the ambiance and mind of pre-Revolutionary Russia. These seven stories take us from the Miracle Mile of St. Petersburg’s Nevsky Prospekt, and a summer night in a Ukrainian village, to the fantastical psychological geographies of fathers, sons, and madmen. Augmenting Gogol’s visions are two disturbing tales by the foremost storyteller of Russia’s “Silver Age” Leonid Andreyev (1871–1919), and a coda from one of Anton Chekhov’s (1860–1904) stable of memorable characters.

Contents include:

Nevsky Prospekt - Nikolai GogolThe Diary of a Madman - Nikolai Gogol Silence - Leonid AndreyevMay Night or The Drowned Girl - Nikolai Gogol Laughter - Leonid AndreyevThe Portrait - Nikolai Gogol On the Harmfulness of Smoking Tobacco - Anton Chekhov