The 12 Greatest Modern Russian-Language Short Story Collections

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...

Lyudmila Petrushevskaya's acclaimed collection of scary fairy tales steeped in Russian dread.

1000pts

2

The Compromise

Dovlatov's bitterly comic collection drawn from his years as a Soviet newspaper journalist.

763pts

3

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

Pelevin's psychedelic, metaphysical stories blending myth, satire and post-Soviet absurdity.

485pts

5

The Suitcase

Sergei Dovlatov's wryly funny linked stories, each built around an object he smuggled out of the USSR.

485pts

6

White Walls

Tatyana Tolstaya's collected stories of memory, childhood and faded Russian grandeur.

397pts

7

The Zone

Dovlatov's stark, mordant stories drawn from his time as a prison-camp guard.

397pts

8

Calligraphy Lesson

Mikhail Shishkin's collected stories, dense and lyrical meditations on language and exile.

291pts

9

Sonechka

Lyudmila Ulitskaya's tender, humane novella-and-stories about a bookish woman's quiet life.

291pts

10

On the Golden Porch

Tolstaya's luminous debut collection that announced one of Russia's finest prose stylists.

291pts

11

The Blue Lantern

Victor Pelevin's prize-winning debut collection of surreal, philosophical short fiction.

162pts

12

Ours: A Russian Family Album

Dovlatov's affectionate linked stories chronicling three generations of his eccentric family.

162pts