Short Fiction

Short Fiction
By Aleksandr Kuprin.
Translated by  S. Koteliansky,  J. M. Murry, Stephen Graham, Rosa Savory Graham, Leo Pasvolsky, Douglas Ashby, The Living Age,  B. Guilbert Guerney, Alexander Gagarine, and Malcolm  W. Davis.




Imprint

This ebook is the product of many hours of hard work by volunteers for  Standard Ebooks, and builds on the hard work of other literature lovers made possible by the public domain.
This particular ebook is based on a transcription produced for Project Gutenberg ( The River of Life, and Other Stories,  A Slav Soul, and Other Stories and  Sulamith) and on digital scans available at the Internet Archive ( The River of Life, and Other Stories,  A Slav Soul, and Other Stories,  Sulamith,  The Piebald Horses and  The Little Red Christmas Tree) and the HathiTrust Digital Library ( Le Coq d’Or and  Gambrinus and Other Stories).
The writing and artwork within are believed to be in the  U.S. public domain, and Standard Ebooks releases this ebook edition under the terms in the  CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. For full license information, see the  Uncopyright at the end of this ebook.
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Foreword
This edition of Alexsandr Kuprin’s Short Fiction was produced from various translations. “The River of Life,” “Captain Ribnikov,” “The Outrage,” and “The Witch” were translated by  S. Koteliansky and  J. M. Murry and originally published in 1916. “A Slav Soul,” “The Song and the Dance,” “Easter Day,” “The Idiot,” “The Picture,” “Hamlet,” “Mechanical Justice,” “The Last Word,” “The White Poodle,” “The Elephant,” “Dogs’ Happiness,” “A Clump of Lilacs,” “Tempting Providence,” and “Cain” were translated by Stephen Graham and Rosa Savory Graham and also originally published in 1916. “The Bracelet of Garnets,” “The Horse-Thieves,” “Anathema,” “The Laestrygonians,” “The Park of Kings,” “An Evening Guest,” “A Legend,” “Demir-Kayá,” and “The Garden of the Holy Virgin” were translated by Leo Pasvolsky and originally published in 1919. “Sasha,” “A Sentimental Romance,” “The Army Ensign,” “Autumn Flowers,” “Emerald,” “Happiness,” “How I Became an Actor,” “Allez!,” “Black Fog,” “The Murderer,” “Measles,” and “The Jewess” were translated by Douglas Ashby and originally published in 1920. “Le Coq d’Or” was translated by The Living Age and originally published in 1922. “Sulamith” was translated by  B. Guilbert Guerney and originally published in 1923. “The Piebald Horses” was translated by Alexander Gagarine and also originally published in 1923. “The Little Red Christmas Tree” was translated by Malcolm  W. Davis and also originally published in 1923. “Monte Carlo,” “Roach Hole,” “The Disciple,” and “The Old City of Marseilles” were translated by  B. Guilbert Guerney and originally published in 1925.



Short Fiction

 
The River of Life

I
The landlady’s room in the “Serbia.” Yellow wallpaper; two windows with dirty muslin curtains; between them an oval squinting mirror, stuck at an angle of forty-five degrees, reflects a