Foundations of Fiction, The - Russian Realism

In this series we turn the pages of classic short stories to put together the literary building blocks of how a particular genre or theme began, how it built its foundations to become the well-loved and well-worn genre that it is today. Do authors have the same ideas at more or less the same time? Or can they sniff out an opportunity as to which way the tastes of an audience are moving. Success undoubtedly builds success and in literary terms we can more politely say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and the surest way to reach a hungry readership is to build on the fortune and flair of your literary colleagues. Throughout literary history Russian writing has been both applauded and lauded as fiction of the first rank. It’s authors down the decades are many and each of them has consummate talents and knowledge that few, if any, can argue with. In this volume we present stories that explain and reveal Russian Realism, in ways that are absorbing, startling and capture a world with precise and literary verve. 01 - Foundations of Fiction - Russian Realism - An Introduction 2 - Diary of a Lunatic by Leo Tolstoy 3 - Gooseberries by Anton Chekhov 4 - An Honest Thief by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 5 - Mumu by Ivan Turgenev 6 - Old Fashioned Landowners by Nikolai Gogol 7 - The City by Leonid Andreyev 8 - Twenty-Six Men and a Girl by Maxim Gorky 9 - Gentle Breathing by Ivan Bunin 10 - The Signal by Vsevolod Garshin 11 - The Revolutionist by Mikhail Petrovich Artzybashev 12 - Dethroned by I N Potapenko 13 - The General's Will by Vera Jelihovsky 14 - Misery by Anton Chekhov 15 - The Rendezvous by Ivan Turgenev 16 - The Jew by Ivan Turgenev 17 - The Bet by Anton Chekhov 18 - The Murderer by Mikhail Bulgakov 19 - Aloysha the Pot by Leo Tolstoy 20 - The Peasant Marey by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 21 - Her Lover by Maxim Gorky 22 - About Love by Anton Chekhov 23 - The District Doctor by Ivan Turgenev 24 - Morphine by Mikhail Bulgakov 25 - Silence by Leonid Andreyev