Novellas and Stories

23 hrs. 36 min.

Classics

Language Russian

Author Alexander Kuprin

Narrators Vadim Maksimov, Vladimir Samoylov

Narrator Vadim Maksimov

Narrator Vladimir Samoylov

Description

Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin [1870–1938] is a Russian writer. Kuprin was born in the village of Narovchatoеv in the Penza region, into the family of a clerk. His fate is both remarkable and tragic: early orphanhood (his father died when the boy was one year old), and an uninterrupted seventeen-year confinement in state institutions (orphan house, military gymnasium, cadet corps, cadet school). But gradually Kuprin matured a dream of becoming “a poet or a novelist.” Poems survive that he wrote at the age of 13–17. The years of military service in the provinces gave Kuprin the opportunity to learn the everyday life of the Tsarist army, which he later described in many works. One of the first pieces based on personally experienced and witnessed events was the story from army life “From a Distant Past” (“Inquest”) (1894).

In the history of Russian literature, Kuprin is known as the author of novellas and novels: “Moloch,” “Olesya,” “Duel,” “The Pit,” and also as a major master of the short story: “In the Circus,” “The Swamp,” “The Coward,” “Horse Thieves,” “Peaceful Life,” “Scabies,” “Staff-Captain Rybnikov,” “Gambri(n)us,” “The Emerald,” “Sulamith,” “The Garnet Bracelet,” “Listrigons,” “The Black Lightning,” “Anathema,” and others. His zest for life, humanism, plastic power of descriptions, and richness of language make Kuprin one of the most widely read writers even today. Many of his works have been staged and adapted for film.

Contents:

01. In the Circus
02. Listrigons
03. Wheel of Time
04. Solomon’s Star
05. The Garnet Bracelet
06. Olesya
07. Gambri(n)us
08. White Poodle
09. Sulamith
10. Anathema
11. A Dog’s Heart