Zamyatin is best known for the brilliant dystopian novel "We", one of the great classics of science fiction. The Dragon is a collection of fifteen of his short stories (including a 67 page novella) published between 1918 and 1935. It also includes an introduction by the translator, Mirra Ginsburg, and the text of the letter Zamyatin wrote to Stalin in which he asked to be allowed to "go abroad ... with the right to return as soon as it becomes possible in our country to serve great ideas without cringing before little men". The stories are all tales of everyday life before, during and after the revolution, but are rather hard to classify further — "realist fairy tales", perhaps.
Contents:
Translator's Introduction
- Letter to Stalin (Письмо Сталину)
- A Provincial Tale (Уездное)
- The Dragon (Дракон)
- The Protectress of Sinners (Сподручница грешных)
- The Church of God (Церковь божия)
- The Ivans (Иваны)
- The North (Север)
- The Cave (Пещера)
- The Healing of Novice Erasmus (О том, как был исцелён инок Еразм)
- In Old Russia (Русь)
- A Story About the Most Important Thing (Рассказ о самом главном)
- The Miracle of Ash Wednesday (О чуде, происшедшем в Пепельную Среду…)
- X (Икс)
- Comrade Churygin Has the Floor (Слово предоставляется товарищу Чурыгину)
- The Flood (Наводнение)
- The Lion (Лев)