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Visions: Stories and Photographs

At the turn of the century, Leonid Andreyev was regarded at home and around the world as one of the greatest living Russian writers. Passionate, provocative, flamboyant, controversial, he was lionized by Maxim Gorki and hailed alongside Leo Tolstoy. Master of the dramatic, Andreyev's dark, horrifying, sensual visions prefigured absurdist theater and existentialist fiction. Almost a century later, they still strike to the heart.

In this splendid volume, Andreyev's granddaughter, Olga Andreyev Carlisle — an accomplished writer herself — offers vibrant new translations of eight of his best stories. Here is Andreyev's famous "The Seven Who Were Hanged." Here, too, are the richly crafted tales "Abyss" and "Darkness." "The Red Laugh," his powerful delineation of apocalypse, is all the more remarkable for its prophecy of the threat of nuclear war. When first conceived, these stories rocked the political and literary camps of all Europe. Reading them today is haunting: the themes have grown in significance.

Accompanied by Olga Carlisle's intimate introduction and complemented with Andreyev's own extraordinarily beautiful self portrait photography, this is truly a work of visions.

  • Format
  • hardcover
  • Pages
  • 325
  • Language
  • english
  • ISBN
  • 9780151939008
  • Genres
  • photography, russia
  • Release date
  • 1987