The River of Life, and Other Stories

Kuprin (1870-1938) was a Russian writer whose best known works include The Duel (1905) and The Garnet Bracelet (1911). During his time in the Cadet Corps he developed an interest in literature and began writing poetry and translating foreign verse. He then entered the Alexander Military Academy and in 1890 graduated ranked sublieutenant and was posted to the 46th Dnieper Infantry Regiment in Proskurov where he spent the next four years. After retiring from the service, during which time he had had several stories published, he embarked on a five-year tour of the south-west of Russia, taking on a diverse array of jobs from land surveyor to circus performer, all of which would be reflected in his later fiction. By 1901, after the publication of numerous stories, collections of sketches and his first major work Moloch (1896), his literary reputation had grown and he moved to St Petersburg where he found himself at the centre of Russian cultural life, forging friendships with literary figures like Chekhov and Ivan Bunin. All his best-known works appeared before the outbreak of World War I. Kuprin left Russia in 1919, arriving in Paris in 1920 where he spent the next 17 years, during which time his creativity declined as he succumbed to alcoholism. He died a year after his return to Russia. This collection of four stories published in English translation in 1916 contains, in addition to the title story, Captain Ribnikov, The Outrage, and The Witch.