Description
'She turned into a frog, into a lizard, into all kinds of other reptiles and then into a spindle'
In these tales, young women go on long and difficult quests, wicked stepmothers turn children into geese and tsars ask dangerous riddles, with help or hindrance from magical dolls, cannibal witches, talking skulls, stolen wives, and brothers disguised as wise birds. Half the tales here are true oral tales, collected by folklorists during the last two centuries, while the others are reworkings of oral tales by four great Russian writers: Alexander Pushkin, Nadezhda Teffi, Pavel Bazhov and Andrey Platonov.
In his introduction to these new translations, Robert Chandler writes about the primitive magic inherent in these tales and the taboos around them, while in the afterword, Sibelan Forrester discusses the witch Baba Yaga. This edition also includes an appendix, bibliography and notes.
'This is a unique, beautifully edited book: an essential addition to the library of any Russophile' - Spectator
*Longlisted for the Rossica Translation Prize 2014*
Translated by Robert Chandler and Elizabeth Chandler
With Sibelan Forrester, Anna Gunin and Olga Meerson
About the Author
Elizabeth Chandler is a co-translator, with Robert Chandler, of Pushkin's The Captain's Daughter and several works by Andrey Platonov and Vasily Grossman.
Reviews
This is a unique, beautifully edited book: an essential addition to the library of any Russophile * Spectator *
Evoking the realm 'across thrice nine lands', [this book offers] us a richly imagined perspective on our own world * The Times Literary Supplement *
Awards
Commended for Rossica Translation Prize 2014.
Book Information
ISBN 9780141442235
Author Robert Chandler
Format Paperback
Page Count 496
Imprint Penguin Classics
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 360g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 27mm
