Notes from the Underground
Notes from the Underground is recounted from the perspective of an unnamed narrator who describes himself as sick, spiteful, and unattractive. His thoughts and his moods veer unpredictably as he reflects on the folly of idealism and the reality of human squalor and degradation. The psychological power of the book is deeply rooted in the…
The Death of Ivan Ilyich
This edition brings together Tolstoy’s 1886 masterpiece and several shorter works that connect with it in thought-provoking ways. The stories are accompanied by a fascinating selection of contextual materials, including nineteenth-century reviews, excerpts from Tolstoy’s letters concerning death, excerpts from a pamphlet he wrote after witnessing the slaughtering of livestock, and a portfolio of relevant…
The Red Laugh and The Abyss
Leonid Andreyev’s The Red Laugh is an experimental depiction of war and its psychological effects, both on those who participate in the fighting and on those who hear of its atrocities from afar. Translated into English for the first time since 1905, it is here paired with a fresh translation of Andreyev’s earlier story “The…
Kirsten Lodge’s New Translation of Notes from the Underground
Kirsten Lodge’s new translation of Notes from the Underground has been receiving high commendation from academics and readers alike. The following review by Jefferson Gatrall at Montclair State University praises both Lodge’s translation and her contextual materials for students: Kirsten Lodge has performed an invaluable service for modern readers with her new translation of Dostoevsky’s Notes from the Underground. This classic…
We
Yevgeny Zamyatin’s novel We is one of the great classics of dystopian fiction. Experimental and provocative in both style and content, it was the first major literary work to be banned in the Soviet Union. This critical edition features an entirely new annotated translation, as well as an introduction, contextual materials, and images related to…
Hadji Murat
Based on historical events, Tolstoy’s beloved final novella tells the story of the rebel leader Hadji Murat—whom Tolstoy described as “the leading daredevil of the Caucasus”—and of the precarious alliance he forged with his enemies during his final days. Set during the Russian conquest of the Caucasus in the 1850s and expressing empathy for the…
The Death of Ivan Ilyich Trade Edition
This is a special Trade eBook edition of Kirsten Lodge’s acclaimed translation of Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories. A separate teaching edition of these translations—with contextualizing appendices, extensive annotations, and an introduction—is also available in both print and eBook formats. This is a special Trade eBook edition of Kirsten Lodge’s…
Fairy Tales in Popular Culture
It wasn’t so long ago that the fairy tale was comfortably settled as an established and respectable part of children’s literature. Since the fairy tale has always been a mirror of its times, however, we should not be surprised that in the latter part of the twentieth century it turned dark and ambiguous; its categorical…
Wormwood
Though disparaged by literary critics of her day, Marie Corelli was one of the most popular novelists of the late Victorian and Edwardian periods. Wormwood (1890) is a lurid tale of unrequited love, betrayal, vengeance, murder, suicide, and addiction. The novel recounts the degeneration of Gaston Beauvais, a promising young Parisian man who, betrayed by…
Githa Sowerby: Three Plays
Githa Sowerby’s Rutherford and Son took the London theatre by storm in 1912. Following its triumphant run, the play toured to New York, was produced throughout England, and was translated and staged in multiple European locations. Yet Sowerby’s initial theatrical success would not be repeated. With historical hindsight, we can see Sowerby’s experience as comparable…