The stories in this collection range from impossible fantasy to scorching satire. A civil servant finds a new passion for his work when he's swallowed alive by a crocodile. A struggling writer stumbles on a cemetery where the dead still talk to each other. An arrogant but well-intentioned gentleman provokes an uproar at a subordinate's wedding, and in the marital bed. And a young boy finds unexpected salvation on a cold and desolate Christmas Eve.

This vivid translation by Nicolas Pasternak Slater and Maya Slater illuminates Dostoevsky's dazzling versatility as a writer. His remarkable short fiction swings from wickedly sharp humour to gripping psychological intensity, from cynical social mockery to moments of unexpected tenderness.

Details

ISBN13: 9781805332060
Format: Paperback / softback
Number of Pages: 288
Edition:
Publication Date: 22 Sep 2026
Publisher: Pushkin Press
Publication City, Country: United Kingdom
Dimensions (cm): 19.8(H)x12.9(L)
Weight (gm):

Author Biography

FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY was born in Moscow in 1821. A strong critic of the tsarist regime, he spent four years in a Siberian prison camp followed by six years of military service in exile. A renowned writer and journalist, his masterpieces of psychological and existential fiction include Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Brothers Karamazov and Notes from Underground.

NICOLAS PASTERNAK SLATER, a bilingual nephew of Boris Pasternak, is a retired haemotologist. Published translations include Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago, Tolstoy's short stories, and, for Pushkin Press, stories by Ivan Turgenev and Anton Chekhov.

MAYA SLATER has published translations of Molière and other French writers, and co-translations with her husband Nicolas Pasternak Slater. She is a Senior Research Fellow of Queen Mary University of London.

Reviews

A sprightly new translation... reminds us how extremely funny [Dostoyevsky] could be -- A.N. Wilson * TLS *
An inspired entertainer, with his own hectic style of comedy * New Yorker *
Nasty, violent, ironic, caustic, and (at times) extremely funny * Guardian *
The man more than any other who has created modern prose * James Joyce *