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The Garnet Bracelet: anthology
This anthology contains five stories:
- Moloch
- Olesya
- The Gambrinus
- Emerald
- The Garnet Bracelet.
- Moloch
- Olesya
- The Gambrinus
- Emerald
- The Garnet Bracelet.
278 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2001
52 people want to read
About the author
Aleksandr Kuprin
914 books157 followersAleksandr Kuprin (Russian: Александр Иванович Куприн; 7 September 1870 in the village of Narovchat in the Penza Oblast - August 25, 1938 in Leningrad) was a Russian writer, pilot, explorer and adventurer who is perhaps best known for his story The Duel (1905). Other well-known works include Moloch (1896), Olesya (1898), Junior Captain Rybnikov (1906), Emerald (1907), and The Garnet Bracelet (1911) (which was made into a 1965 movie). Vladimir Nabokov styled him the Russian Kipling for his stories about pathetic adventure-seekers, who are often "neurotic and vulnerable."
Kuprin was a son of Ivan Ivanovich Kuprin, a minor government official who died of cholera during 1871 at the age of thirty-seven years. His mother, Liubov' Alekseevna Kuprina, Tatar princess (of the Kulunchakovs), like many other nobles in Russia, had lost most of her wealth during the 19th century. Kuprin attended the Razumovsky boarding school during 1876, and during 1880 finished his education in the Second Moscow Military High School (Cadet Corps) and Alexander Military School, spending a total of ten years in these elite military institutions. His first short story, The Last Debut, was published during 1889 in a satirical periodical. "In February 1902, Kuprin and Maria Karlovna Davydova were married, their daughter Lidia born in 1903." Kuprin's mother died during 1910.
Kuprin ended military service during 1894, after which he tried many types of job, including provincial journalism, dental care, land surveying, acting, circus performer, church singer, doctor, hunter, fisher, etc. Reportedly, "all of these were subsequently reflected in his fiction." His first essays were published in Kiev in two collections. Reportedly, "although he lived in an age when writers were carried away by literary experiments, Kuprin did not seek innovation and wrote only about the things he himself had experienced and his heroes are the next generation after Chekhov's pessimists."
Although the 1896 short story Moloch first made his name known as a writer, it was his novel The Duel (1905) which made him famous. "Kuprin was highly praised by fellow writers including Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorky, Leonid Andreyev, Nobel Prize-winning Ivan Bunin" and Leo Tolstoy who acclaimed him a true successor to Chekhov. After publication of The Duel he paid less and less interest to fancy literature and began to spend time in pubs and brothels. His sensationalist novel about the lurid life of prostitutes, The Pit (1915), was accused by Russian critics of excessive Naturalism.
Although not a conservative, he did not agree with Bolshevism. While working for a brief time with Maxim Gorky at the World Literature publishing company, he criticized the Soviet regime. During spring 1919, from Gatchina near Petrograd, Kuprin left the country for France. He lived in Paris for most of the next 17 years, succumbing to alcoholism. He wrote about this in much of his work. He eventually returned to Moscow on May 31, 1937, just a year before his death, at the height of the Great Purge. His return earned publication of his works within the Soviet Union.
Kuprin died during the spring of 1938 in Leningrad and is interred near his fellow writers at the Literaturskiye Mostki in the Volkovo Cemetery (Volkovskoye Memorial Cemetery) in Leningrad. A minor planet 3618 Kuprin, discovered by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh in 1979 is named after him.
Reportedly, "even today, Alexander Kuprin remains one of the widest read classics in Russian literature", with many films based on his works, "which are also read over the radio", partly due to "his vivid stories of the lives of ordinary people and unhappy love, his descriptions of the military and brothels, making him a writer for all times and places."
Kuprin was a son of Ivan Ivanovich Kuprin, a minor government official who died of cholera during 1871 at the age of thirty-seven years. His mother, Liubov' Alekseevna Kuprina, Tatar princess (of the Kulunchakovs), like many other nobles in Russia, had lost most of her wealth during the 19th century. Kuprin attended the Razumovsky boarding school during 1876, and during 1880 finished his education in the Second Moscow Military High School (Cadet Corps) and Alexander Military School, spending a total of ten years in these elite military institutions. His first short story, The Last Debut, was published during 1889 in a satirical periodical. "In February 1902, Kuprin and Maria Karlovna Davydova were married, their daughter Lidia born in 1903." Kuprin's mother died during 1910.
Kuprin ended military service during 1894, after which he tried many types of job, including provincial journalism, dental care, land surveying, acting, circus performer, church singer, doctor, hunter, fisher, etc. Reportedly, "all of these were subsequently reflected in his fiction." His first essays were published in Kiev in two collections. Reportedly, "although he lived in an age when writers were carried away by literary experiments, Kuprin did not seek innovation and wrote only about the things he himself had experienced and his heroes are the next generation after Chekhov's pessimists."
Although the 1896 short story Moloch first made his name known as a writer, it was his novel The Duel (1905) which made him famous. "Kuprin was highly praised by fellow writers including Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorky, Leonid Andreyev, Nobel Prize-winning Ivan Bunin" and Leo Tolstoy who acclaimed him a true successor to Chekhov. After publication of The Duel he paid less and less interest to fancy literature and began to spend time in pubs and brothels. His sensationalist novel about the lurid life of prostitutes, The Pit (1915), was accused by Russian critics of excessive Naturalism.
Although not a conservative, he did not agree with Bolshevism. While working for a brief time with Maxim Gorky at the World Literature publishing company, he criticized the Soviet regime. During spring 1919, from Gatchina near Petrograd, Kuprin left the country for France. He lived in Paris for most of the next 17 years, succumbing to alcoholism. He wrote about this in much of his work. He eventually returned to Moscow on May 31, 1937, just a year before his death, at the height of the Great Purge. His return earned publication of his works within the Soviet Union.
Kuprin died during the spring of 1938 in Leningrad and is interred near his fellow writers at the Literaturskiye Mostki in the Volkovo Cemetery (Volkovskoye Memorial Cemetery) in Leningrad. A minor planet 3618 Kuprin, discovered by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh in 1979 is named after him.
Reportedly, "even today, Alexander Kuprin remains one of the widest read classics in Russian literature", with many films based on his works, "which are also read over the radio", partly due to "his vivid stories of the lives of ordinary people and unhappy love, his descriptions of the military and brothels, making him a writer for all times and places."
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 11, 2025
it's alright but nothing like "The Pit" by the same author
September 8, 2018
Perhaps reading it in russian would have made me understand his literary style, having read this translation i can only say that the second half of the book is moving and i would have appreciated it, had it been longer, the story could have been explored a bit more while delving into the despair of zheltkov the lover.
March 24, 2019
Most of the reviews of this book appear to focus on the final of five short stories contained in the volume, The Garnet Bracelet.” To provide some balance, I will comment briefly on the other four.
The opening story, “Moloch,” details the romantic misadventures of an engineer employed at a steel mill. The depictions of the steel-making process and of the lives of the workers at the mill are quite good, the recounting of the efforts of the engineer to win the heart of the daughter of a mill supervisor less so.
The 2nd story, “Olesya,” was my favorite. This tale is set in Polesye, the picturesque wetlands in the south of Belarus, and relates the story of a visitor who falls in love with the granddaughter of a woman suspected of being a witch, and who had been banished to live in the swamps.
“The Gambrinus” is the name of a pub in a southern Russian port city, which does a phenomenal business thanks to the efforts of a Jewish fiddle player. The story recounts how his life is affected by being drafted into the military to fight in the Russo-Japanese War, then the suppression of the 1905 Revolution and the pogrom which followed.
“Emerald” portrays the life of a young race horse. I found the ending very unsatisfactory, and would not necessarily recommend that particular story.
All told, this is a good collection of tales by one of the more accomplished pre-revolutionary Russian story tellers.
The opening story, “Moloch,” details the romantic misadventures of an engineer employed at a steel mill. The depictions of the steel-making process and of the lives of the workers at the mill are quite good, the recounting of the efforts of the engineer to win the heart of the daughter of a mill supervisor less so.
The 2nd story, “Olesya,” was my favorite. This tale is set in Polesye, the picturesque wetlands in the south of Belarus, and relates the story of a visitor who falls in love with the granddaughter of a woman suspected of being a witch, and who had been banished to live in the swamps.
“The Gambrinus” is the name of a pub in a southern Russian port city, which does a phenomenal business thanks to the efforts of a Jewish fiddle player. The story recounts how his life is affected by being drafted into the military to fight in the Russo-Japanese War, then the suppression of the 1905 Revolution and the pogrom which followed.
“Emerald” portrays the life of a young race horse. I found the ending very unsatisfactory, and would not necessarily recommend that particular story.
All told, this is a good collection of tales by one of the more accomplished pre-revolutionary Russian story tellers.
April 4, 2021
I loved the book so much! It is about the pure, tender, but sometimes ruthless feeling. The work develops the idea that true love does not disappear from the heart without a trace. Sincere love exists, we just need to be able to notice and accept it. However, the author does not judge the characters of the book and does not impose his point of view. He lets the readers draw their own conclusions. Likewise, I love the fact Chekhov uses Beethoven's sonata as a symbol of unhappy but eternal love.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 20, 2011
Very sad story.
February 17, 2021
ما أجملها وأدق وصفها للمشاعر الإنسانية المعذبة!
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March 17, 2021Enjoyed each story; second favourite was "Olesya" and favourite was "The Garnet Bracelet" - beautifully written and ultimately unforgettable.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews