Kirjahaku

This is a revised edition of the first volume of the Russian Through Propaganda series, now with free video lessons via YouTube. This new series of Russian textbooks provides a rigorous but rewarding approach to the language. It assumes no prior knowledge of Russian, and is intended for ambitious beginners, or more advanced students seeking a highly structured review of the language. It assumes that its readers are interested in long-term mastery of the language, within the rich historical, cultural, and literary contexts that often draw students to Russian in the first place. It therefore takes the time to explain challenging grammar topics in depth, striving to provide the full picture as clearly as possible. It is richly illustrated with Soviet-era propaganda posters, whose slogans serve as examples of each lesson's grammar. It is structured as a series of 50 daily lessons, which build upon one another and give a clear sense of progress. It is the equivalent of a semester of intensive college-level study of Russian. Visit www.russianthroughpropaganda.com for more information and to access video lessons.

Nine of Chekhov's most powerful and thought-provoking short stories are included here, in the original Russian and in a facing English translation, together with all the vocabulary notes and reference tables you need to make sense of Chekhov's original texts. Designed to help students of Russian begin to enjoy real Russian literature in the original without constantly reaching for a dictionary, this parallel-text edition features a new translation made specifically for this purpose, as well as detailed Russian vocabulary notes, including all the important forms you need (especially aspectual pairs and conjugation types for all verbs). The original Russian text is marked for stress, but is otherwise unedited and unsimplified. The short stories included in this volume are: "The Death of a Clerk" (how is a bureaucrat killed by a sneeze?), "The Student" (a moving vignette about both timeless meaning and transient youthful idealism), "A Little Joke" (an innocent joke takes on unimagined proportions - if our narrator is to be believed, that is), "Sleepy" (a servant girl, deprived of sleep, is pushed to the brink of madness), "Rothschild's Fiddle" (a deeply moving tale of intolerance, memory, and reconciliation through music), "Anna Round the Neck" (a young woman is forced to marry an older man for his money - but will she turn the tables?), "Gusyev" (a peasant soldier and an intellectual, representing starkly different perspectives on life, await death in a steamship sickbay), "The Lady with the Little Dog" (a couple finds love, and all of the anguish that sustaining it often entails), and "Ward No. 6." (a harrowing story of a provincial doctor and his patients; this unforgettable work is surely one of the most powerful treatments of madness and medical ethics - indeed, ethics is general - in all of world literature.

This is the revised edition of Book 3 in a series of Russian language textbooks that began with Russian Through Propaganda (Books 1 and 2). This volume shifts its attention from the Soviet era to the Imperial era, illustrating its discussions of intermediate grammar with paintings depicting Russian history and culture. Classical poems by the likes of Pushkin and Lermontov provide examples of the grammar, which includes such topics as advanced aspect, prefixed verbs of motion, and deverbal forms - all of which are essential for reading real Russian literature. The book culminates with a reading selection that includes Pushkin's "The Bronze Horseman," two short stories by Chekhov ("Death of a Clerk" and "A Little Joke"), and one by Tolstoy ("Alyosha the Pot") - all of them extensively glossed to allow students to begin reading real literature without constantly using a dictionary. This series, which is geared toward ambitious students who wish to learn Russian culture along with the language, continues with Book 4. For more information, see www.russianthroughpropaganda.com.

This second volume in the Russian Through Propaganda series provides a second semester's worth of intensive college-level Russian language learning. It presents all plural forms of noun and adjective case endings, introduces basic verbs of conveyance and basic prefixed forms, deals extensively with numbers and time expressions, and introduces comparative forms. It concludes with two special chapters dedicated to practical everyday conversation (for those heading to Russia), and an introduction to unadapted Russian poetry and prose from the Soviet era. Like Book 1, it is richly illustrated with Soviet propaganda posters whose slogans highlight each lesson's grammar. It is supplemented with a learner's Russian-English dictionary, an answer key, and useful grammar tables for reference. This new series of Russian language textbooks will continue with Books 3 and 4, entitled "Russian Through Poems and Paintings." For more information and video lessons, visit www.russianthroughpropaganda.com.

A pure delight to read, the four major "Petersburg Tales" of Nikolai Gogol - strange and fantastical, ludicrously absurd, by turns harrowing and hilarious - are among the foundational texts of modern Russian literature. In this volume designed specifically for Russian learners, "The Overcoat," "The Nose," "Diary of a Madman," and "Nevsky Prospekt" are presented in their entirety, in the original Russian and in a facing English translation, together with all the vocabulary notes and reference tables you need to make sense of the original. Photographs of important sites will help orient you in Gogol's Petersburg. Designed to help students of Russian begin to enjoy real Russian literature in the original without constantly reaching for a dictionary, this parallel-text edition features a new translation made specifically for this purpose, as well as detailed Russian vocabulary notes, including all the important forms you need (especially aspectual pairs and conjugation types for all verbs). The original Russian text is marked for stress, but is otherwise unedited and unsimplified.In "The Overcoat," a petty copy clerk scrimps and saves to purchase a new overcoat; once acquired, it fills his life with a dubious sort of meaning... until tragedy strikes. In "The Nose," a conceited official wakes up one morning to find an empty, flat spot where his nose used to be Worse yet, when he finally tracks down his runaway nose, he finds it praying in church, and - O horror - wearing a uniform of a rank higher than his own In "Diary of a Madman," a clerk obsessed with his boss's daughter tries to find the answers he seeks by intercepting her dog's correspondence, as he gradually loses all touch with reality. Finally, in "Nevsky Prospekt," two friends follow two different women down the famous Petersburg boulevard - with radically divergent consequences.

Presented here together, in their entirety - in the original Russian and in a facing English translation, new for this edition - are two masterpieces of Russian literature by Mikhail Lermontov (1814-1841), both set in the Caucasus: The Demon, a narrative poem, and A Hero of Our Time, a novel. The Demon was deemed so scandalous at the time it was written that it was first published in Russia only in 1856 - and then only in a handful of copies for the royal family It tells of a beautiful Georgian princess, Tamara, who awakens long-forgotten feelings of love in a Demon when he sees her dancing on the eve of her wedding. After the untimely death of her would-be husband, Tamara enters a convent, but a voice continues to tempt her. At last the Demon appears to her, to profess his love... and Tamara's soul hangs in the balance...A Hero of Our Time is many things at once: a travelogue documenting the astounding natural beauty of the Caucasus and the spirit of its many peoples; an adventure novel with everything from kidnappings to duels; a catalogue of tragic romantic encounters; a novel of (bad) manners; and a disturbing psychological study of its infamous anti-hero, Pechorin, the first (alongside Pushkin's Evgeny Onegin) of many deeply conflicted - if not demonic - figures in Russian literature. As Lermontov himself makes clear, the idea that Pechorin is "heroic" is to be taken with a great deal of irony Mirroring each other in many ways, these two works are productively read together, with The Demonproviding a fantastical poetic overture to the realist prose of A Hero of Our Time. Together, they make for captivating reading.Book 4 in the "Reading Russian" series, this edition provides the original text and facing English translation, together with all the vocabulary notes and reference tables you need to make sense of the original. Designed to help students of Russian begin to enjoy real Russian literature in the original without constantly reaching for a dictionary, this parallel-text edition features a new translation made specifically for this purpose, as well as detailed Russian vocabulary notes, including all the important forms you need (especially aspectual pairs and conjugation types for all verbs). The original Russian text is marked for stress, but is otherwise unedited and unsimplified.

Written in simple and sometimes shockingly blunt prose, Tolstoy's timeless novella is a masterpiece of his later work, combining relentless psychological observation with moral and spiritual urgency in its depiction of the death of an ordinary man, a certain Ivan Ilyich - a court official, husband, and father. Ivan Ilych is perfectly ordinary in the sense that his lifelong pursuit of outward decency in his work and family life - even home decor - has obscured from him all deeper questions of life's meaning - questions he must suddenly come to terms with as he confronts his own mortality. Alongside this existential struggle, Tolstoy - with both compassion and clinical objectivity - documents dying as a physical and psychological process, involving both loneliness and despair, unrelenting suffering, and unexpected glimmers of comfort, human contact, and hope. Ultimately, Tolstoy suggests that a life dominated by the conventions of the world as we know it is somehow deeply wrong - but that every life has the capacity for redemption, even at the very end.Designed to help students of Russian begin to enjoy real Russian literature in the original without constantly reaching for a dictionary, this parallel-text edition features a new translation made specifically for this purpose, as well as detailed Russian vocabulary notes, including all the important forms you need (especially aspectual pairs and conjugation types for all verbs). The original Russian text is marked for stress, but is otherwise unedited and unsimplified.About the Author...Originally from Franklin, Tennessee, Mark Pettus holds a PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures from Princeton University. Altogether, he's spent around six years living, studying, and working in Russia. Today he is a lecturer in Slavic Languages and Literatures at Princeton. Mark is the author of the Russian Through Propaganda textbook series (Books 1 and 2), and its continuation, Russian Through Poems and Paintings (Books 3 and 4). He is now working on additional books for students of Russian, including the Reading Russian series of which the present volume is a part.

Russian "mat" - a remarkably expressive, linguistically fascinating, and utterly hilarious system of obscenity that builds a wide variety of words from a handful of extremely vulgar roots - is never taught in the classroom, but is absolutely essential for anyone looking to master Russian in all of its fullness. Russians widely consider "mat" to be much more obscene than anything in English. Its words were long unprintable, and their use in public performances remains punishable by Russian law. Yet when Russians really want to make their feelings known, many will resort to "mat" - for it alone has the power to express everything from utter despair, to incandescent rage, to bottomless disdain, to uproarious defiance of a fallen world.This beginner's guide introduces the basics of "mat" in an in-depth yet manageable fashion, including detailed descriptions of word-building principles, the literal and figurative meanings of "mat" expressions, and extensive coverage of euphemism - explaining how Russians can use "mat" without really using it The text presents a manageable list of all the basic "mat" vocabulary - nouns, verbs, adjectives, and phrases - that you'll actually hear, with simple examples of usage. English transliterations are provided alongside the original Russian Cyrillic (marked for stress ), making this book useful both for serious students of Russian and for inquirers who don't even know the alphabet. Along the way, we'll review certain key points of Russian declension, conjugation, and grammar in a refreshingly obscene context.For anyone with a sense of humor and an appreciation of the "lower" registers of human experience and expression, "mat" is sure to become one of the real joys of learning the Russian language. Embark on this journey of discovery - with Lenin as your guide About the Author...Originally from Franklin, Tennessee, Mark Pettus holds a PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures from Princeton University. Altogether, he's spent around six years living, studying, and working in Russia. Today he is a lecturer in Slavic Languages and Literatures at Princeton. Mark is the author of the Russian Through Propaganda textbook series (Books 1 and 2), and its continuation, Russian Through Poems and Paintings (Books 3 and 4). He has also published a growing library of Russian parallel-language readers - the Reading Russian series. Check out www.russianthroughpropaganda.com for a variety of resources for students of Russian language, literature, and culture.