qualities rather than as typifying the writer's art. It was, of
course, impossible in the space of one book to exhaust all that is
best. But to my knowledge, the present volume is the most
comprehensive anthology of the Russian short story in the English
language, and gives a fair notion of the achievement in that field.
All who enjoy good reading, I have no reason to doubt, will get
pleasure from it, and if, in addition, it will prove of assistance to
American students of Russian literature, I shall feel that the task
has been doubly worth the while.

Korolenko's _Shades_ and Andreyev's _Lazarus_ first appeared in
_Current Opinion_, and Artzybashev's _The Revolutionist_ in the
_Metropolitan Magazine_. I take pleasure in thanking Mr. Edward J.
Wheeler, editor of _Current Opinion_, and Mr. Carl Hovey, editor of
the _Metropolitan Magazine_, for permission to reprint them.

[Signature: Thomas Seltzer]



"Everything is subordinated to two main requirements--humanitarian
ideals and fidelity to life. This is the secret of the marvellous
simplicity of Russian literary art."--THOMAS SELTZER.




BEST RUSSIAN SHORT STORIES