September 01, 2006 Dmitry Shostakovich A short biography of the composer whose life was continually challenged by the Powers That Be.
October 01, 1999 Pushkin's Heir Mikhail Lermontov is often called "Russia's second greatest poet," after Alexander Pushkin. And there is more that the quality of their art in common between the two writers.
September 01, 2001 The Genius of Shostakovich No musician in the 20th century has been more judged for what he wrote--versus what he composed or performed--than Shostakovich. We asked one of the participants in the controversy surrounding the prolific composer's biography to fill us in.
April 01, 1999 Gogol Nikolai Vassiliyevich Gogol was born, appropriately for a satirist, on April 1, 1809, in the Poltava Gubernia of Maloros (“Little Russia,” later officially named Ukraine).
April 01, 1999 The Poet of Laughter Russian Life visits with a leading expert on Nikolai Gogol, to consider the writer's legacy and influence.
April 01, 1999 Nabokov on Gogol Comparing the two authors, who stand as literary bookends for the 20th century.
May 01, 2024 Dostoyevsky Bilingual Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. Bilingual Books Language Learning
May 01, 2013 Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery. Fiction
October 09, 2011 Jews in Service to the Tsar Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history. History Nonfiction
Okudzhava Bilingual Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. Bilingual Books Fiction Language Learning
November 01, 2010 Frogs Who Begged... This edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina. Culture Literature Bilingual Books Fiction
August 17, 2018 Resilience ~ The Russian Version (Переживем) Call it resilience, grit, or just perseverance – it takes a special sort of person to have survived the last 100 years of Russian and Soviet history. Nonfiction
October 31, 2024 Far & Away ~ Tales from Rural Russia 33 original stories about modern (and not so modern) life in rural Russia. Fiction
June 20, 2017 Woe From Wit (bilingual) One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture. Humor Literature Bilingual Books Fiction
July 01, 2013 Murder at the Dacha Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case. Literature Fiction
Turgenev Bilingual A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages. Bilingual Books Fiction Language Learning
Chekhov Bilingual Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. Bilingual Books Fiction Language Learning
Tolstoy Bilingual This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. Bilingual Books Fiction Language Learning
