Isenberg discusses frame narrative and its relation to genre in one set of Russian short classics on the theme of erotic renunciation. Drawing on rich critical tradition and on contemporary work in narratology, Isenberg analyzes Turgenev's First Love, Dostoevsky's gentle Creature, Tolstoy's Kreutzer Sonata, and works by Chekhov, Kharms, and Makanin to provide new insight into the frame narrative of passion.