Russian Short

The two strikingly original short novels brought together here - in new translations by award-winning translators - were both literary gambles of a sort for Fyodor Dostoevsky. The first real expression of his genius, The Double is a surprisingly modern hallucinatory nightmare in which a minor official named Goliadkin becomes aware of a mysterious doppelgänger. Written 20 years later under the pressure of crushing debt, The Gambler is a stunning psychological portrait of a young man's exhilarating and destructive addiction.

The Russian humor of the 21st century is quite different from the middle of the 20th. Gone are the bread lines, the Communist party, and one-room dwellings in a communal house. No one is sent to the Gulag for making a joke. Even for jokes about Putin, even when they compare him to a Czar. So the Russian people’s humor adapts. It has become more philosophical on the one hand or moved into the family and business arenas on the other. The jokers can be rich but are mostly poor. They can be of average intelligence but are mostly wise. They may have enemies but rise above the hatred. They are ...

When face-to-face with a real Russian speaker, do you freeze? Do you know how to ask for directions in Russian or communicate if there’s an emergency? If your answer to any of the previous questions was "Yes", then this audiobook is for you! We have compiled 50 Russian Stories along with their translations, providing new Russian speakers with the necessary tools to begin effectively studying how to set a meeting, how to check into a hotel and even what to say during an emergency! Our Russian dialogues get straight to the point saving you precious time.

A Sportsman’s Notebook, Ivan Turgenev’s first literary masterpiece, is a sweeping portrayal of the magnificent 19th-century Russian countryside and the harsh lives of those who inhabited it. In a powerful and gripping series of sketches, a hunter wanders through the vast landscape of steppe and forest in search of game, encountering a varied cast of peasants, landlords, bailiffs, overseers, horse traders, and merchants. He witnesses both feudal tyranny and the submission of the tyrannized, against a backdrop of the sublime and pitiless terrain of rural Russia.

It’s undeniable: Russian can be quite a challenging language to learn. Finding the right teacher, learning materials, or even peers to study with can be incredibly difficult, and we’re fully aware of this. This is why we’ve created another Russian Short Stories for Beginners audiobook to ensure that young and old students at the entry level of learning can have yet another chance to polish their Russian tongue and survive to tell the tale!

A lowly government clerk, Akay Akakiyevich, must scrimp and save to purchase a new coat for the cold Russian winter in “The Overcoat”. But after one night of basking in the warmth of his new coat and the respect of his colleagues, Akaky’s one-of-a-kind overcoat is stolen. In his pursuit of justice, Akaky receives no help and is consumed by the loss of his prized possession. In “The Viy”, Gogol recounts a popular folk story in which a monstrous creature, known to Little Russia as the king of gnomes, helps a witch get revenge on a young student who escaped from her trap.

If there’s even been something tougher than learning the grammar rules of a new language, it’s finding the way to speak with other people in that tongue. Any student knows this – we can try our best at practicing, but you always want to avoid making embarrassing mistakes or not getting your message through correctly.

Orson Welles, Sir Laurence Olivier, and Michael Redgrave present a collection of classic Russian fiction including "The Overcoat", "The Queen of Spades", and "A Day in the Country."

Rory has been in love with his best friend and roommate, Alexei, for over a year. He’s confident that Alexei feels the same about him too. However, Alexei is a gentle giant, and doesn’t have a pushy bone in his body. So it’s up to Rory to make the first move. Luckily, Rory has the perfect outfit to entice Alexei and get him to confess his feelings. Maid for You is a sweet and steamy, friends to lovers, MM short story.

Written over the course of Leskov's career, each story in The Enchanted Wanderer elucidates the very essence of the human condition; themes of love, despair, loneliness, and revenge are explored against the backdrop of 19th-century working-class Russia. Leskov deftly layers social satire and subtle criticism atop myth and fable, resulting in a richly entertaining collection.

Anatoly I’m a man set on revenge, even if it stains my soul black. I didn’t count on the sweet girl that got caught in the middle. She’s my new obsession. So beware. No one touches her ever again but me. This lovely Bratva princess is all mine now. Polina I’m no prize, I’m just a pawn. My father’s dirty money and filthy secrets are what I’m really valued for. If I get hurt along the way, there’s no one to care for or protect me. Except him. The fierce warrior unlike any man I ever knew. He’s caught me. And all I want is more of him. I’m willing to surrender everything. I...

Three novellas from Alexa Riley: Stay Close: A former Russian mafia soldier is hired to protect a friend’s daughter, but he knows he’ll do more than keep her safe - he’ll make her his. Forever. Hold Tight: A hotshot consultant hired to streamline Osbourne Corp. meets his match in Pandora Justice. Don’t Go: CEO Henry Osbourne has only ever desired one woman - the one who got away. She ran from a boy, but a man of power and persuasion now stands in his place.

In "Russian Doll," CIA operative Anne Wellstead arrives in Moscow for her first overseas assignment, posing as a cultural attaché at the U.S. embassy. Her mission is to uncover a mole within the embassy linked to a notorious Russian seductress named Natasha Petrovna, who is known for manipulating agents to do her bidding. As Anne settles into her new role, she becomes increasingly aware of a mysterious presence in her apartment, adding to the tension of her assignment. One evening, Anne returns home to find Natasha waiting for her, having breached the security of her apartment. Natasha ...

The best collection of Russian short stories includes: Fyodor Dostoevsky: Notes from the Underground, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, The Beggar Boy at Christ's Christmas Tree. Leo Tolstoy: The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Kholstomer, the Story of a Horse, Alyosha the Pot, A Letter to a Hindu, A Confession, God Sees the Truth, but Waits, A Russian Christmas Party. Anton Chekhov: Kashtanka, Gusev, The Darling, The Lady with the Dog, A Slander, The Horse-Stealers, The Petchenyeg, A Dead Body, A Happy Ending, The Looking-GlassOld Age, Darkness, The Beggar, In Trouble, Frost, Minds in Ferment, Gone Astray.

Alone among world leaders, Vladimir Putin has the power to reduce the United States and Europe to ashes in a nuclear firestorm and has threatened to do so. He invades his neighbours, most recently Ukraine, meddles in Western elections and orders assassinations inside and outside Russia. The regime he heads is autocratic and corrupt. Yet many Russians continue to support him. Despite Western sanctions, the majority have been living better than at any time in the past. By fair means or foul, under Putin's leadership, Russia has once again become a force to be reckoned with.

When mobsters frame her aunt, one psychic dives headfirst into a criminal conspiracy. Mary Catherine, MC for short, inherited her family’s psychic abilities and a knack for trouble. When her fortune-telling aunt is accused of murdering a Russian mobster and refuses to defend herself by revealing what she saw in a card reading, it’s up to MC to divine the truth. But if MC isn’t careful, she could end up sharing a jail cell with her aunt … or swimming with the fishes. The Russian and Aunt Sophia is a madcap cozy mystery novella that could only take place in Florida. If you like ...

Alexander Pushkin's greatest short story. Hermann, a young German officer serving in the Engineers regiment, is obsessed by gambling, although he never indulges in it himself. One night he hears a tale about how a wealthy 87-year-old Countess in St. Petersburg once learned the secret of how to win on three cards from the Duc d'Orleans. He becomes obsessed with learning the secret himself. In pursuit of this aim, he becomes enamoured of the Countess' companion, the beautiful Lizaveta.

Konstantin Paustovsky was a Russian writer nominated for the Nobel Prize for literature in 1965, 1966,1967,1968. Paustovsky began writing while still in Gymnasium. His first works were imitative poetry but he restricted his writing to prose after Ivan Bunin wrote in a letter to him: "I think that your sphere, your real poetry, is prose. It is here, if you are determined enough, that I am sure you can achieve something significant."

Come in and sample an entirely different sort of fairy tale - coming to you from a faraway land and written by authors of whom you have never heard.

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. The Russian Literary Tradition has justly earned a magnificent reputation. The Russian Empire of the Czars was a huge and disparate patchwork of peoples ruled by an overbearing elite that employed a middle-class bureaucracy to keep the working class firmly underfoot. Within its vaulted ranks are a role call of many of the greatest literary talents of the ages.