The eight stories in this collection have been chosen both for their interest as contemporary Soviet literature and for the light they throw on Soviet attitudes to such subjects as officialdom, youth, art, and recent history. For the general reader, they are also chosen to give some indication of the highly variable quality of Soviet writing today, a factor which Western collections have tended to ignore.

All the stories, which ranges from 1929 to 1961 have been specially translated for this edition. The Russian text on facing pages and the detailed notes and biographies will help the student to gain confidence in his reading as well as a more realistic sense of the values of learning the language.
 
A Penguin Parallel Text.