In this collection of Russian stories, editor and compiler Thomas Seltzer selects from a range of the best examples of 19th and early 20th century Russian literature. As a survey of famous authors at the height of the powers, as well as some writers who have been unjustly neglected, this anthology is indispensable.

Anathema, a drama by Leonid Andreyev (1909). Anathema is the Devil, the tempter of man. In the prologue he stands outside the gates of eternity, and calls on the silent Guardian to open them for an instant that he may have a glimpse of the mysteries to illumine the way for the Devil and for man, alike groping in darkness. The Guardian bars the way, and in anger Anathema swears to return to earth and ruin the soul of David Leizer. David Leizer is not a Faust or a Job, but an insignificant Jewish shopkeeper dying of poverty in a Russian town. Anathema appears to him as a lawyer to announce that...