Leonid Andreyev’s The Red Laugh is an experimental depiction of war and its psychological effects, both on those who participate in the fighting and on those who hear of its atrocities from afar. Translated into English for the first time since 1905, it is here paired with a fresh translation of Andreyev’s earlier story “The Abyss,” which caused scandal upon its first publication. This edition provides an illuminating introduction by translator Kirsten Lodge as well as a range of background materials that help set the novel in its historical, literary, and artistic contexts.

Based on historical events, Tolstoy’s beloved final novella tells the story of the rebel leader Hadji Murat—whom Tolstoy described as “the leading daredevil of the Caucasus”—and of the precarious alliance he forged with his enemies during his final days. Set during the Russian conquest of the Caucasus in the 1850s and expressing empathy for the resistance of the native peoples of Dagestan and Chechnya, Hadji Murat raises significant questions of power, imperialism, and betrayal, and remains moving and relevant today. This richly annotated edition features a selection of illuminating background materials that help situate the novella in its historical and literary context.

This edition brings together seven medically-themed short stories by Anton Chekhov—a practicing physician as well as an accomplished writer who thought deeply about the relationship between literature and medicine. Each story has been freshly translated and includes explanatory footnotes to aid interpretation. The edition also features an introduction on Chekhov’s life and times and a selection of contextual materials—most of them also freshly translated—that includes examples of Chekhov’s thinking, as articulated in his letters and autobiography, about literature and medicine; critical responses to Chekhov’s writing by some of his contemporaries; and excerpts from the memoirs of another late nineteenth-century Russian physician.

Leonid Andreyev’s The Red Laugh is an experimental depiction of war and its psychological effects, both on those who participate in the fighting and on those who hear of its atrocities from afar. Translated into English for the first time since 1905, it is here paired with a fresh translation of Andreyev’s earlier story “The Abyss,” which caused scandal upon its first publication. This edition provides an illuminating introduction by translator Kirsten Lodge as well as a range of background materials that help set the novel in its historical, literary, and artistic contexts.

Based on historical events, Tolstoy’s beloved final novella tells the story of the rebel leader Hadji Murat—whom Tolstoy described as “the leading daredevil of the Caucasus”—and of the precarious alliance he forged with his enemies during his final days. Set during the Russian conquest of the Caucasus in the 1850s and expressing empathy for the resistance of the native peoples of Dagestan and Chechnya, Hadji Murat raises significant questions of power, imperialism, and betrayal, and remains moving and relevant today. This richly annotated edition features a selection of illuminating background materials that help situate the novella in its historical and literary context.

This edition brings together seven medically-themed short stories by Anton Chekhov—a practicing physician as well as an accomplished writer who thought deeply about the relationship between literature and medicine. Each story has been freshly translated and includes explanatory footnotes to aid interpretation. The edition also features an introduction on Chekhov’s life and times and a selection of contextual materials—most of them also freshly translated—that includes examples of Chekhov’s thinking, as articulated in his letters and autobiography, about literature and medicine; critical responses to Chekhov’s writing by some of his contemporaries; and excerpts from the memoirs of another late nineteenth-century Russian physician.