Dead at the age of thirty-three, Vsevolod Garshin had by that time already established himself as one of Russia's finest short fiction writers. His known stories are included in this volume. Many are powerful accounts of war, influenced by his direct experience of army life, having volunteered to serve in the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-8. Garshin's literary output includes poignant and phantastique renderings of the fairy tale, as well as a supreme example of the Russian tradition of asylum horror 'The Scarlet Blossom,' perhaps his most well-known story. With great sensitivity, Garshin's fiction displays the uneasy contradictions of human nature. His determinedly individual voice ensures the stories retain a resonance contemporary to any time.
This collection contains Garshin's fiction as translated by Captain Rowland Siddons Smith OBE, and commentary by Sergius Stepniak, men of note in their own right, and a brief biography of both is included.