|  home  |  contact info  |  policies  |  search  |  authors  |

|  copyright  |  email us  |  college stores  |

|  school stores  |  online store  |  International Orders  |

| Student online Resources |  desk/exam copies  |  Feedback Form  |

Five Russian Stories

Five Russian Stories

Arna Bronstein & Aleksandra Fleszar

University of New Hampshire

2004 • 1-58510-058-7 • paper • 106 pages • 6 x 9 • $18.95

Five Russian stories in Russian from the post-Soviet era from among the best modern writers. The stories reflect cultural and political styles and concerns in Russian  literature today.

|  About the Authors  |  Contents  |  Introduction  |

 Description                                             

This collection of 5 Russian Stories represents some of the prevailing trends in contemporary Russian prose, life, and art. The selected authors, despite being educated during Soviet times, “find themselves” in the modern-day, post-Soviet period of rebuilding and redefining a nation, Russia, and its political, economic, social, and artistic endeavors.
                                         -- from the Introduction

Each translated story is accompanied by a cultural discussion, a short author biography, cultural footnotes, an analysis by Russian literary scholar Mikhail Dymarsky, and a set of questions and overarching themes for further discussion. This publication also includes an introduction, a selected bibliography, and a list of additional stories and films to facilitate further study of contemporary Russian literature and culture.

 Authors                                                   

Arna Bronstein is an associate professor of Russian at the University of New Hampshire, where she has taught since 1981.  She received her BA in Russian Studies from Colgate University and her MA and PhD in Slavic Literature from the University of Pennsylvania.

Aleksandra Fleszar is an associate professor of Russian at the University of New Hampshire, where she has taught since 1976 and developed the Russian major and a national study abroad program in Russia.  She received her BA from SUNY Buffalo and her MA and PhD from Ohio State University.

 Table of Contents                                     

Introduction to reader

Autobiography of Mikhail Dymarsky

Chapter 1. What is reality? What is the fantastic?
          Igor Mezhuev, “A Strange Event”      
          Mikhail Dymarsky “Profaning the Profane” (commentary)

Chapter 2. What is religion’s place in society and in individual lives?
          Vladimir Monakhov “A Defrocked Monk”
          Mikhail Dymarsky “Indisputable God in All Around Us” (commentary)

Chapter 3. Is there a “woman’s voice” in literature?  
          Ilona Jakimova “A Romance with a Sequel”    
          Mikhail Dymarsky “The Price of a Dream” (commentary)

Chapter 4. Who is to Blame? What is to be Done?
          Mikhail Butov “Relic"
          Mikhail Dymarsky “Hopelessness” (commentary)

Chapter 5. What is a hero? Is there a morality in Russia today?   
          Vladimir Lavrishko “In the Thick Fog, To Say Nothing of All the Rest”    
          Mikhail Dymarsky “To Stop a Moment, to Extend Hope” (commentary)

Selected Bibliography

 From the Introduction                            

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the rise of Russia and the subsequent disappearance of controls or censorship, the arts have exploded in many directions, while writers have begun to examine and discuss previously taboo subjects, including pornography, past evils of the soviet system, and current social and economic crises within the country. It is in this broad field of literary topics and styles that one finds the authors presented in this reader. Although these writers were educated under the Soviet system (or during the collapse of it), their range of topics and styles has not been limited by Soviet censorship. They are enjoying the artistic freedom that now prevails, and their choice of topics, vocabulary and styles reflects that freedom.

These stories were chosen for a varied audience: students of Russia, Russian history, political science and literature of all levels, and for those who are interested in Russian contemporary society and literature. The questions raised by these authors are ones that are being discussed in Russian today, and which, when examined, can provide some insight into contemporary Russia and Russian thought.

The format of the stories is as follows. Each story is one complete chapter that includes a cultural discussion of the story (in the context of contemporary Russian society and the theme of searching,) a short biography of the author, a translation of the story itself (with cultural footnotes), an analysis by Mikhail Dymarsky and a set of suggested questions/themes for either written or oral discussion.