Russian Short Stories

A close, contemplative reading of seven classic Russian short stories, guided by George Saunders’ provocative description of them in A Swim in a Pond in the Rain as “seven fastidiously constructed scale models of the world, made for a specific purpose that our time maybe doesn’t fully endorse but that these writers accepted implicitly as the aim of art — namely, to ask the big questions.”

What happens when we read these stories with that purpose in mind? We’ll consider questions of truth and love, how to live and how to make meaning within the solitary confinement of our mortality. Together, we’ll linger over the strange, precise worlds these writers have made—and see what their stories might still ask of us.

In this study, we will use the book as a background to our own reading, focusing on the stories themselves—by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy and Gogol—while also drawing on Saunders’ insights as a backdrop to our discussions. Rather than analysing his commentary in detail, we will engage directly with these literary masterpieces, exploring their themes, techniques and enduring relevance.

JOINING DETAILS:

• A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, ISBN 978-1526624246 is a required text for this study
• Four-week study on Zoom led by Alison Cable
• Thursdays, 6.00-8.00 pm (UK time)
• 5, 12, 19, 26 November 2026
• £140 to include introductory notes and resources