SHORT STORY MASTERPIECES From out of the vast, mysterious land that is Russia have come some of the world's greatest writers: CHEKHOV whose irony and pathos surge up powerfully from his sharp character delineation. DOSTOIEVSKY whose sympathy and understanding of the poor and defeated rings through some of the most intense, dramatic writing of all time. TURGENEV depicting the bitter conflicts between liberal young and conservative old, introspective and dramatic. GORKI whose sharp insights into the vagabond, the outcast and the fugitive, are unequalled in literature. TOLSTOY whose brisk psychological characterizations are set against the grandeur and panoramic sweep of a mighty nation. These and many more brilliant writers are here collected in an anthology in which the shadowy heart of Russia and the turbulent soul of man are revealed in powerful, vivid, masterly short stories.