Böcker i Russian Texts-serien

Tolstoy is most famous for his two major novels, Anna Karenina and War and Peace, but he also produced several minor masterpieces, of which The Death of Ivan Illyich is the most outstanding. In this tale he deals with the subject of death, which is a subject often considered taboo. Before opening this book the reader should be warned: this is strong meat, not to be tasted by the squeamish. Whether the reader finds the hero's spiritual conversion convincing or not, they cannot fail to be impressed by the sheer power and artistry of Tolstoy's writing.

Griboyedov's "Woe From Wit" is part of the BCP Russian Texts series, designed to meet the needs of the growing A Level and undergraduate market for texts in the Russian language. Each text comes with English notes and vocabulary, and with an introduction by an editor with a knowledge in the field.

Originally published in 1835, this is one of two works by Gogol dealing with the "little man". Poprischin is a middle-aged, grade nine civil servant who is painfully aware of the social gap between himself and Sophie, the Director's daughter. It is this frustrated love that drives him to madness.

A title in the BCP Russian Texts series, in Russian with English notes, vocabulary and introduction. In this play, the defeated Whites flee the Reds and emigrate to Constantinople and Paris. In the form of eight "dreams", it hovers between tragedy and comedy.

Nevsky Prospect, published in 1835, is Gogol's major contribution to the 'Petersburg' theme in Russian literature, a theme taken up and developed by Dostoevsky, Blok, Zamiatin and many others. By day, Nevsky Prospect, the capital's main thoroughfare, is thronged with people from all sections of Petersburg society. After dusk it is the haunt of prostitutes and the Devil holds sway. Gogol's story, which he eventually includes in the 'Petersburg' cycle of tales, is ostensibly two stories in one, linked by the slimmest of threads: the tragic tale of the flippant philanderer Pirogov. In the final paragraphs, another theme emerges: the struggle between Good and Evil or - in Gogol's terms - between Beauty and the Devil.Nevsky Prospect epitomizes much of what has come to be termed Gogolian, the inimitable prose style, the love hate relationship with Petersburg, and above all the preoccupation with poshlost (vulgar pretentiousness) in all its manifold forms.