Russian Magic Tales from Pushkin to Platonov

'She turned into a frog, into a lizard, into all kinds of other reptiles and then into a spindle'

In these tales, young women go on long and difficult quests, wicked stepmothers turn children into geese and tsars ask dangerous riddles, with help or hindrance from magical dolls, cannibal witches, talking skulls, stolen wives, and brothers disguised as wise birds. Half the tales here are true oral tales, collected by folklorists during the last two centuries, while the others are reworkings of oral tales by four great Russian writers: Alexander Pushkin, Nadezhda Teffi, Pavel Bazhov and Andrey Platonov.

In his introduction to these new translations, Robert Chandler writes about the primitive magic inherent in these tales and the taboos around them, while in the afterword, Sibelan Forrester discusses the witch Baba Yaga. This edition also includes an appendix, bibliography and notes.

'This is a unique, beautifully edited book: an essential addition to the library of any Russophile' - Spectator

*Longlisted for the Rossica Translation Prize 2014*

Translated by Robert Chandler and Elizabeth Chandler
With Sibelan Forrester, Anna Gunin and Olga Meerson

Author: Robert Chandler
Publisher: Penguin Group
Published: 06/25/2013
Pages: 448
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 7.70h x 5.00w x 1.30d
ISBN: 9780141442235
Award: Rossica Translation Prize - Finalist

About the Author
Robert Chandler is an acclaimed poet and translator. His many translations from Russian include works by Aleksandr Pushkin, Nikolay Leskov, Vasily Grossman, and Andrey Platonov; his anthologies Russian Short Stories from Pushkin to Buida and The Penguin Book of Russian Poetry are both published by Penguin Classics.

Sibelan Forrester is a professor of Russian at Swarthmore College. She lives in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.