Four Great Russian Short Novels

by Ivan Turgenev, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy

Stories include:
"First Love" by Turgenev
"The Gambler" by Dostoyevsky
"Master and Man" by Tolstoy
"The Duel" by Chekhov

Genres: Fiction

383 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1959

About the author

Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (Cyrillic: Иван Сергеевич Тургенев) was a novelist, poet, and dramatist, and now ranks as one of the towering figures of Russian literature. His major works include the short-story collection A Sportsman’s Sketches (1852) and the novels Rudin (1856), Home of the Gentry (1859), On the Eve (1860), and Fathers and Sons (1862).

These works offer realistic, affectionate portrayals of the Russian peasantry and penetrating studies of the Russian intelligentsia who were attempting to move the country into a new age. His masterpiece, Fathers and Sons, is considered one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century.

Turgenev was a contemporary with Fyodor Dostoevsky and Leo Tolstoy. While these wrote about church and religion, Turgenev was more concerned with the movement toward social reform in Russia.

Reviews

[Mario · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought the collection would be more or less random, but there does seem to be a theme running through the stories of love in various types and stages, which elevates the book in a way that more collections should but few do. Chekhov's is unsurprisingly the gem of the group, but the others have a lot of value, except Tolstoy's.