FINALIST FOR THE PEN JACQUELINE BOGRAD WELD AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY “Feminism, history, literature, politics—this tale has all of that, and a heroine worthy of her own turn in the spotlight.” —Therese Anne Fowler, bestselling author of Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald A revelatory new portrait of the courageous woman who saved Dostoyevsky’s life—and became a pioneer in Russian literary history In the fall of 1866, a twenty-year-old stenographer named Anna Snitkina applied for a position with a writer she idolized: Fyodor Dostoyevsky. A self-described “girl of the sixties,” Snitkina had come of age during Russia’s first feminist movement, and Dostoyevsky—a notorious radical turned acclaimed novelist—had impressed the young woman with his enlightened and visionary fiction. Yet in person she found the writer “terribly unhappy, broken, tormented,” weakened by epilepsy, and yoked to a ruinous gambling addiction. Alarmed by his condition, Anna became his trusted first reader and confidante, then his wife, and finally his business manager—launching one of literature’s most turbulent and fascinating marriages. The Gambler Wife offers a fresh and captivating portrait of Anna Dostoyevskaya, who reversed the novelist’s freefall and cleared the way for two of the most notable careers in Russian letters—her husband’s and her own. Drawing on diaries, letters, and other little-known archival sources, Andrew Kaufman reveals how Anna protected her family from creditors, demanding in-laws, and her greatest romantic rival, through years of penury and exile. We watch as she navigates the writer’s self-destructive binges in the casinos of Europe—even hazarding an audacious turn at roulette herself—until his addiction is conquered. And, finally, we watch as Anna frees her husband from predatory contracts by founding her own publishing house, making Anna the first solo female publisher in Russian history. The result is a story that challenges ideas of empowerment, sacrifice, and female agency in nineteenth-century Russia—and a welcome new appraisal of an indomitable woman whose legacy has been nearly lost to literary history.

This collection contains Gogol's three completed plays The Government Inspector, which satirises a corrupt society was regarded by Nabokov as the greatest play in the Russian language and is still widely studied in schools and universities: "I resolved to gather into one heap everything that was bad in Russia which I was aware of at that time, all the injustices being perpetrated in those places, and in those circumstances that especially cried out for justice, and tried to hold them all up to ridicule, at one fell swoop." (Nikolai Gogol) Marriage is a comedy about the business of matchmaking and matrimony; The Gamblers is an exoriating piece about the excesses of the Moscow aristocracy. "Two and two make five, if not the square root of five, and it all happens quite naturally in Gogol's world... Gogol was a strange creature, but then genius is always strange" (Vladimir Nabokov)

Nikolai Vasilievitch Gogol, the Moliere of Russia, was born in the sunny Ukraine in March, 1809, and died in Moscow forty-three years later. The author of Russia's famous national comedy, The Inspector-General, Gogol was the first dramatist of his country to write plays on the Western European model, even as his friend Pushkin was the first Russian poet to introduce the Western strain into the literature of his people. In the comedy Marriage, which Gogol began in 1832 as The Wooers and completed only in 1842 in its final form, the author attacked in his inimitable manner the modern problem of escape from marriage. By unexcelled, mirth-provoking characterization, and with delightful irony, Gogol satirized the fear of marriage inherent in the soul of the average man. The Gamblers is a masterpiece of dramatic suspense, and has been hailed in Europe as a model for plot development. With a few strokes, Gogol drew this set of characters whose purpose in life is so similar, yet whose manners are so individual. When The Gamblers was first produced in Berlin, it made a striking impression on the audience whose mystification was complete to the very end.

Win bets on sporting events using the prediction system of Vedic Astrology • Describes the basics of Vedic Astrology and how it can be applied to sports betting • Outlines 5 powerful techniques for predicting the outcome of any one-on-one competition • Details how to determine the physical strength of each side, whose motivation and drive to win is strongest, and who has fate on their side Everything that is born, which has a lifespan and an ending, is a space-time event. That includes contests as well as human beings. And just as your personal astrological chart can describe success or failure in various areas of your life, so too can a contest chart created from the time, date, and location of an event show us winners and losers of one-on-one competitions. Drawing on traditional Vedic Astrology as well as his own research and winning experience, Simon Chokoisky outlines 5 powerful techniques for predicting the outcome of any competition between two opponents with 70–80 percent accuracy. He explains how sports betting offers black-and-white outcomes and you do not have to be an advanced astrologer to understand the principles in this book or to apply them to daily life. Using examples from his bets in the World Cup and baseball, the author shows how to judge the favorite and determine the underdog’s chances by looking into the body, mind, and soul of a team and its players. He details how to use the planets to determine the physical strength of each side and whose motivation, mental toughness, and drive to win is strongest as well as the more subtle spiritual nature of each team--who is luckier and who has fate on their side. He details how he used these simple principles to win hundreds of bets and how he now uses them to fund charitable causes. Including personal stories of his experiences with grace, beginner’s luck, and the Vedic philosophy of karma and dharma, Chokoisky demonstrates how the planets and stars relate not only to our sports competitions but also our individual lives. He shows us how the astrologer must become part of the prediction, how a bad day can mean bad luck, and how to ride the wave of good fortune by avoiding specific days that are ill-disposed to betting. Chokoisky explains that one way to remain in the good graces of the gods is to donate a portion of your winnings to charity. He describes how right conduct is essential to continue profiting from this technique and how your own karma and dharma can indicate how to approach gambling as well as how to use your winnings.