Vsevolod Garshin - In his time Garshin inspired fanaticism among those who read his stories, his public readings often accompanied by near hysteria. His fiction frequently deals with themes of war and mental instability, writing reflective of his real life experiences

 

Vsevolod Garshin, Collected Stories, Trans. by Rowland Siddons Smith, Lulu, 2023

A collection of Vsevolod Garshin’s short fiction works. In his time Garshin inspired fanaticism among those who read his stories, his public readings often accompanied by near hysteria, but the years since have seen him less read than some of his contemporaries. His fiction frequently deals with themes of war and mental instability, writing reflective of his real life experiences. Having died tragically early, Garshin left relatively few completed short stories. All are included in this volume, and are a valuable addition to Russian literature as a whole.

Dead at the age of thirty-three, Vsevolod Garshin had by that time already established himself as one of Russia's finest short fiction writers. His known stories are included in this volume. Many are powerful accounts of war, influenced by his direct experience of army life, having volunteered to serve in the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-8. Garshin's literary output includes poignant and phantastique renderings of the fairy tale, as well as a supreme example of the Russian tradition of asylum horror 'The Scarlet Blossom,' perhaps his most well-known story. With great sensitivity, Garshin's fiction displays the uneasy contradictions of human nature. His determinedly individual voice ensures the stories retain a resonance contemporary to any time.

This collection contains Garshin's fiction as translated by Captain Rowland Siddons Smith OBE, and commentary by Sergius Stepniak, men of note in their own right, and a brief biography of both is included.

Highlights include:

“Four Days”, where an incapacitated soldier is forced to wait for help at the side of a battlefield, all the while observing the slow decay of the body of an enemy he has vanquished previously.

“The Scarlet Blossom” (also known elsewhere as “The Red Flower”), in which a highly disturbed man is afflicted by an unnatural fixation on a startlingly red bloom.

Also included in this volume is writing on Garshin from Sergius Stepniak, a revolutionary against autocratic rule in Russia who eventually settled in England.

Dead at the age of thirty-three, Vsevolod Garshin had by that time already established himself as one of Russia’s finest short fiction writers. His known stories are included in this volume. Many are powerful accounts of war, influenced by his direct experience of army life, having volunteered to serve in the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-8. Garshin’s literary output includes poignant and phantastique renderings of the fairy tale, as well as a supreme example of the Russian tradition of asylum horror ‘The Scarlet Blossom,’ perhaps his most well-known story. With great sensitivity, Garshin’s fiction displays the uneasy contradictions of human nature. His determinedly individual voice ensures the stories retain a resonance contemporary to any time.

This collection contains Garshin’s fiction as translated by Captain Rowland Siddons Smith OBE, and commentary by Sergius Stepniak, men of note in their own right, and a brief biography of both is included.

Vsevolod Mikhaylovich Garshin, (born February 2, 1855, Bakhmutsky district, Russian Empire—died March 24, 1888, St. Petersburg), Russian short-story writer whose works helped to foster the vogue enjoyed by that genre in Russia in the late 19th century.Garshin was the son of an army officer whose family was wealthy and landed. The major Russo-Turkish war of the 19th century broke out when Garshin was in his early twenties, and, perhaps feeling obligated by his father’s profession, he renounced his youthful pacifism to serve.He wrote of the plight of injured soldiers in his first story, “Chetyre dnya” (1877; “Four Days”), the title of which refers to the length of time the wounded main character remains unattended on the battlefield. The theme of wartime casualty is continued in his “A Very Short Romance,” the story of a soldier whose injury precipitates an emotional crisis when he returns home. In perhaps his most famous story, “Krasny tsvetok” (1883; “The Scarlett Blossom”), a madman dies after destroying a flower he believes to contain all of the world’s evil. Haunted by similar delusions in his own life, Garshin committed suicide by throwing himself down a stairwell.