An elliptical wander through the vast steppe of Russian literature: Lermontov’s only novel is comprised of three narratives that frame the Byronic and flawed protagonist Pechorin, in whom all the qualities and failings of the author’s generation find expression; an anthology of literature from the revolution of 1917 finds a fascinating extension in Teffi’s oblique, off-beat short stories that take us from pre-revolutionary St Petersburg to emigre Paris. The Tartar experience of exile in Siberia is powerfully evoked in Yakhina’s recent novel Zuleikha, based on the experiences of the author’s grandmother. Alexievich’s latest book to be published here is about the children who grew up in Soviet Russia during and after WW2, a social history of the overlooked using oral testimonies. We have also included Batuman’s jubilant memoir of studying Russian literature, a glorious and often very funny interweaving of travel, anecdote and literary criticism.

This bundle includes:

The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them, Elif Batuman
Zuleikha, Guzel Yakhina
1917: Stories and Poems from the Russian Revolution, selected by Boris Dralyuk
Subtly Worded, Teffi
Last Witnesses: Unchildlike Stories, Svetlana Alexievich
A Hero of Our Time, Mikhail Lermontov

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