Kazakov’s stories were a stunning success in the 1950s of the last century. This collection publishes the writer’s most famous novellas: “Tra-la-la,” “Artur—The Hound Dog,” “Not So Pretty,” “I Cry and I Sob,” and others.
Yury Pavlovich Kazakov (1927–1982) is a classic of twentieth-century Russian literature.
His stories, which appeared in the mid-fifties, were a staggering success—people saw in the author a successor to Bunin; with official criticism, aesthetic disagreements arose immediately. However, the author himself of the brilliant novellas “Manka,” “Tra-la-la,” “Artur—The Hound Dog” always lived on his own terms, never looking back at authorities or at detractors. He didn’t adapt. He didn’t fuss. That’s why his prose remains not only a monument to its time, but also a living, understandable conversation even now. A writer for all times.