The Duel

This rediscovered gem by a major, yet neglected, writer— here presented in a dazzling new translation— is an absorbing account of the final days of Czarist Russia.

An absorbing saga about the brutalities of military life upon its own soldiers. Stranded at a distant outpost, young Romashov finds himself obliged to fight a duel—over something he realizes is meaningless. As the novel hurtles toward a startling conclusion, it reveals itself to be a luminous depiction of the end of an era.