"The Salamander and Other Gothic Tales" contains eight stories by Vladimir Odoevsky (1804-69). These include "The Salamander, The Cosmorama, " and "The Sylph, " Odoevsky's three main metaphysical tales. The collection as a whole represents some of the best of Russian Romantic fiction from the first half of the nineteenth century. This is the first English edition of Odoevsky's work to be published since 1965 and six of the tales are here translated for the first time.

This captivating novel is the summation of Odoevsky's views and interests in many fields: Gothic literature, romanticism, mysticism, the occult, social responsibility, Westernization, utopia and anti-utopia. Compared to "The Decameron, " to Hoffman's "Serapion Brethren, "and to the Platonic dialogues, "Russian Nights" is a unique mixture of romantic and society tales framed by Odoevsky's musings on strands of Russian thought and his own obsessions.