FaustPaperback, 21 June 2012

Alesser-known novella by one of the great masters of Russian literature, now available to English readers ina lucid translation, is presented with "Yakov Pasynkov," another story exploring the nature of love and human relationsIn a series of nine letters, the narrator tells his friend how he introduced Vera Nikolayevna, a married woman who had been forbidden as a child to read fiction and poetry, to the intellectual pleasures of Goethe's masterpiece. Opening up in front of Vera's eyes is not only the realm of imagination, but also a world of unbridled feelings and tempestuous passions, which can only shatter the comfort and safety of her existence and force her to set off on a journey of spiritual awakening."