" . . . a rewarding book." —Times Literary Supplement Set in the vast windswept Central Asian steppes and the infinite reaches of galactic space, this powerful novel offers a vivid view of the culture and values of the Soviet Union's Central Asian peoples.

" . . . a rewarding book." —Times Literary Supplement Set in the vast windswept Central Asian steppes and the infinite reaches of galactic space, this powerful novel offers a vivid view of the culture and values of the Soviet Union's Central Asian peoples.

Written at the height of Stalin's first "five-year plan" for the industrialization of Soviet Russia and the parallel campaign to collectivize Soviet agriculture, Andrei Platonov's The Foundation Pit registers a dissonant mixture of utopian longings and despair. Furthermore, it provides essential background to Platonov's parody of the mainstream Soviet "production" novel, which is widely recognized as one of the masterpieces of twentieth-century Russian prose. In addition to an overview of the work's key themes, it discusses their place within Platonov's oeuvre as a whole, his troubled relations with literary officialdom, the work's ideological and political background, and key critical responses since the work's first publication in the West in 1973.

A modern classic of Soviet literature--a love story that ranks alongside Turgenev's First Love.

This story is set among the Nyvkh people on Sakhalin Island in the icy Sea of Okhotsk north of Japan. Life is extremely harsh in those frigid wastes and is maintained only by hunting seals, of which every single piece is put to use for food, clothing, shelter and bone utensils by these relatives of the North American Eskimos. Aitmatov dramatically sets the scene of an elemental war between land and sea.A classic from the award-winning Kyrgyz and Soviet novelist Chingiz Aitmatov.A champion of freedom, Chingiz Aitmatov is one of the most famous writers from Eurasia and, according to UNESCO, one of the most widely published authors of the 20th century. His books, which introduced the mountains and lakes of his native Kyrgyzstan to readers in 176 language, emphasize individual liberty, respect for the natural world and reverence for the traditions of minority peoples.