Search results for ""Author Stephen Pimenoff""

Universally acclaimed as the master of the short-story form, Anton Chekhov begun his literary career as the author of brief tales and vignettes of Russian life when he was still a young medical student. Later rejected by the writer in the same self-effacing way in which he repudiated some of his most celebrated works, the stories in this collection are not only a testament to the early promise of his genius, but deserve to be appreciated for their lapidary vividness and their intrinsic stylistic quality. Mostly dealing with the lives of downtrodden "little" men and low-ranking civil servants as they steer their actions through the corruption and malpractice of Russian public officials, this volume - here presented in Stephen Pimenoff's lively new translation - bristles with wit and humour, and is tinged by that understated note of melancholy and lyricism that is a trademark of Chekhov's writing.

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Towards the middle of the nineteenth century, following the example of the Brothers Grimm in Germany, Alexander Afanasyev embarked on the ambitious task of sifting through the huge repository of tales from Russian folklore and selecting the very best from written and oral sources. The result, an eight-volume collection comprising around 600 stories, is one of the most influential and enduringly popular books in Russian literature. This large selection from Afanasyev’s work, presented in a new translation by Stephen Pimenoff, will give English readers the opportunity to discover one of the founding texts of the European folkloristic tradition. Displaying a vast array of unforgettable characters, such as the Baba-Yaga, Ivan the Fool, Vasilisa the Fair and the Firebird, these tales – by turns adventurous, comical and downright madcap – will enchant readers for their raw beauty and constant ability to surprise and excite.

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