In the town of Vladímir lived a young merchant named Iván Dmítritch Aksyónof. He had two shops and a house of his own. Aksyónof was a handsome, fair-haired, curly-headed fellow, full of fun, and very fond of singing. When quite a young man he had been given to drink, and was riotous when he had had too much, but after he married he gave up drinking, except now and then. One summer Aksyóno…
Cerpen-cerpen dalam antologi ini mempresentasikan perkembangan kesusastraan Rusia dan juga kondisi masyarakatnya, mulai awal abad XIX hingga masa Perang Dunia I dan masa Revolusi. Beragam perspektif dan gaya, mulai dari Pushkin yang romantis, Gogol dengan tragedinya, Tolstoy yang bijak, Chekov yang penuh satir jenaka nan pahit, Korolenko yang sentimentil, hingga Gorky sang realis, kesemuanya me…