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The 12 Greatest Modern Russian-Language Short Story Collections

by YPB Team

Biting Soviet satire, tender domestic miniatures and surreal post-modern fables all jostle for space here, spanning emigre wit to homegrown experiment. Where do you stand?

  1. There Once Lived a Woman... — ranked #11
    There Once Lived a Woman...
    Lyudmila Petrushevskaya's acclaimed collection of scary fairy tales steeped in Russian dread.
    1000pts
  2. The Compromise — ranked #22
    The Compromise
    Dovlatov's bitterly comic collection drawn from his years as a Soviet newspaper journalist.
    763pts
  3. There Once Lived a Girl... — ranked #33
    There Once Lived a Girl...
    Petrushevskaya's companion volume of unflinching love stories from Soviet and post-Soviet life.
    560pts
  4. A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia — ranked #44
    A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia
    Pelevin's psychedelic, metaphysical stories blending myth, satire and post-Soviet absurdity.
    485pts
  5. The Suitcase — ranked #55
    The Suitcase
    Sergei Dovlatov's wryly funny linked stories, each built around an object he smuggled out of the USSR.
    485pts
  6. White Walls — ranked #66
    White Walls
    Tatyana Tolstaya's collected stories of memory, childhood and faded Russian grandeur.
    397pts
  7. The Zone — ranked #77
    The Zone
    Dovlatov's stark, mordant stories drawn from his time as a prison-camp guard.
    397pts
  8. Calligraphy Lesson — ranked #88
    Calligraphy Lesson
    Mikhail Shishkin's collected stories, dense and lyrical meditations on language and exile.
    291pts
  9. Sonechka — ranked #99
    Sonechka
    Lyudmila Ulitskaya's tender, humane novella-and-stories about a bookish woman's quiet life.
    291pts
  10. On the Golden Porch — ranked #1010
    On the Golden Porch
    Tolstaya's luminous debut collection that announced one of Russia's finest prose stylists.
    291pts
  11. The Blue Lantern — ranked #1111
    The Blue Lantern
    Victor Pelevin's prize-winning debut collection of surreal, philosophical short fiction.
    0pts
  12. Ours: A Russian Family Album — ranked #1212
    Ours: A Russian Family Album
    Dovlatov's affectionate linked stories chronicling three generations of his eccentric family.
    0pts

#Books91#Russia7#Fiction17#Authors5

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