In the final years of his life Chekhov had reached the height of his powers as a dramatist, while also writing short stories that rank among his masterpieces. In "The Lady with the Little Dog" a man and a woman indulge in an affair that could ruin both their marriages, but their feelings for each other compel them towards betrayal. "Peasants" focuses on the brutality of peasant life, where the locus of evil is the tavern, in which the men spend the...

Offers a collection of Tolstoy's short stories, including "Three Deaths," "After the Ball," and "The Forged Coupon."

"In A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, George Saunders guides the reader through seven classic Russian short stories he's been teaching for twenty years as a professor in the prestigious Syracuse University graduate MFA creative writing program. Paired with stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol, these essays are intended for anyone interested in how fiction works and why it's more relevant than ever in these turbulent times. Saunders approaches...