The Duel

9 hrs. 18 min.

Classics

Language Russian

Author Alexander Kuprin

Narrator Alexander Moskalin

Description

A backwater town in southern Russia, a military unit of an N-th infantry regiment. Kuprin himself served in the army, and the author vividly and historically truthfully shows small episodes from the daily life of the Russian army in the second half of the 19th century.

In the book, you’ll find vivid portraits of Russian officers, philosophical reflections about human beings, and a great surge of passions.

Against the backdrop of drunkenness, debauchery, and dull army life, a bright, romantic image of the young subaltern officer Romashov emerges—his soul’s coming of age and his search for answers to simple questions posed by life itself.

His lack of clear goals, detachment from reality, and his love for a married woman lead him to a fateful duel.

Written during the Russo-Japanese War, Kuprin’s novella “The Duel” exposes painful problems that had been brewing in the Russian military environment. A deep psychological analysis adopted by Kuprin from Tolstoy, the writer’s passionate attitude to the problem he raises, and a brilliant style make “The Duel” just as interesting to us as it was to Kuprin’s contemporaries.