The Duel

This rediscovered gem by a major, yet neglected, writer- here presented in a dazzling new translation- is an absorbing account of the final days of Czarist Russia. An absorbing saga about the brutalities of military life upon its own soldiers. Stranded at a distant outpost, young Romashov finds himself obliged to fight a duel-over something he realizes is meaningless. As the novel hurtles toward a startling conclusion, it reveals itself to be a luminous depiction of the end of an era.

Alexander Kuprin (1870–1938) was a Russian writer, pilot, explorer, and adventurer who was dubbed the “true successor to Chekhov” by Tolstoy, and the “Russian Kipling” by Vladimir Nabokov.

Joshua Billings’ translation of Pushkin’s Tales of Belkin is available in the Art of the Novella series.