Hugh A. Aplin Książki

Mistrz i Małgorzata to fascynujący i ponadczasowy obraz walki dobra i zła. Woland, Behemot, Małgorzata są bohaterami wielobarwnymi, z którymi można się utożsamiać. Powieść bawi, wzrusza, zaskakuje i skłania do refleksji filozoficznych. Bułhakow doskonale splótł historię miłości pisarza, zwanego Mistrzem, i Małgorzaty Nikołajewny z ponurymi i zarazem groteskowymi realiami Rosji z lat trzydziestych XX wieku. Wątek z historią Poncjusza Piłata skazującego na śmierć wędrownego filozofa Jeszuę Ha-Nocri stanowi jednocześnie powieść w powieści. Konwencja, zawierająca elementy absurdu, fantastyczną sferę działań Wolanda była konieczna, aby książka przeszła przez cenzurę panującą w sowieckiej Rosji. Tylko tak Bułhakow mógł ukazać niedorzeczności kraju, w którym tworzył.

One of the great achievements of 20th-century Russian émigré literature, Dark Avenues —the culmination of a life’s work of unrelenting challenge to Soviet dogma—took Bunin’s poetic mastery of language, eventually known for its richness as "Bunin brocade," to new heights. Written between 1938 and 1944 and set in the context of the Russian cultural and historical crises of the preceding decades, this collection of short fiction centers around dark, erotic liaisons. Love in its many varied forms is the unifying motif in a rich range of narratives, characterized by the evocative, elegiac, elegant prose for which Bunin is rightly renowned.

Professor Persikov, an eccentric zoologist, stumbles upon a new light ray that accelerates growth and reproduction rates in living organisms. In the wake of a plague that has decimated the country's poultry stocks, Persikov's discovery is exploited as a means to correct the problem. As foreign agents, the state and the Soviet media all seize upon the red ray, matters fet out of hand... Set in 1928 but written four years earlier, during Stalin's rise to power, The Fatal Eggs is both an early piece of science fiction reminiscent of H.G. Wells and a biting, brilliant satire on the consequence of the abuse of power and knowledge.

The five, irreverent, satirical and imaginative stories contained in 'Diaboliad' caused an uproar upon the book's first publication in 1925. They move at dizzying speed from grotesque satire to science fiction, from the plainest realism to the most madcap fantasy.

Tolstoy’s final novella, The Forged Coupon is an ingenious study of the destructive powers of evil set against a brilliant depiction of Russian life.Inescapably in thrall to the power his crimes bring him, Stepan goes further and further down the path of evil, relentlessly seeking new opportunities to murder and maim. When, however, one of his victims refuses to surrender to him, instead dying with pity on her lips, he finds himself haunted by her image. Suddenly, he is faced with the choice of continuing a life of crime, or facing up to his actions and their certain consequences. Leo Tolstoy, author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina, is one of Russia’s greatest novelists.