Small Fry and Other Stories

Universally
acclaimed as the master of the short-story form, Anton Chekhov began his
literary career as the author of brief tales and vignettes of Russian life
when he was still a young medical student. Later rejected by the writer in
the same self-effacing way in which he repudiated some of his most celebrated
works, the stories in this collection not only testify to the early promise
of his genius, but deserve to be appreciated for their lapidary vividness and
their intrinsic stylistic quality.

Mostly dealing with the lives of downtrodden little men and low-ranking
civil servants as they navigate the corruption and malpractice of Russian
officialdom, this volume - here presented in Stephen Pimenoff’s lively new
translation - bristles with wit and humour, and is tinged by that understated
note of melancholy and lyricism that is a trademark of Chekhov’s writing.