The focus of this study in comparative criticism is close analysis of Dostoevsky's first literary publication-his 1844 translation of the first edition of Balzac's Eug nie Grandet (1834)-and the stylistic choices that he made as a young writer while working on Balzac's novel. Through the prism of close reading, the author analyzes Dostoevsky's literary debut in the context of his future mature aesthetic style and poetics. Comparing the original and the translation side by side, this book focuses on the omissions, additions and substitutions that Dostoevsky brought into the text. It demonstrates how young Dostoevsky's free translation of Eugenie Grandet predicts the creation of his own literary characters, themes, and other aspects of his literary output that are now recognized as Dostoevsky's signature style. It investigates the changes that Dostoevsky made while working on Balzac's text and analyzes the complex transplantation of Balzac's imagery, motifs, and character portraiture from Eugenie Grandet into Dostoevsky's own writing later on.

Through the poetry of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Russian authors, including Pushkin and Akhmatova, Poetry Reader for Russian Learners helps upper-beginner, intermediate, and advanced Russian students refine their language skills. Poems are coded by level of difficulty. The text facilitates students' interaction with authentic texts by means of a complete set of learning tools, including biographical sketches of each poet, stress marks, annotations, exercises, questions for discussion, and a glossary. An ancillary Web site containing audio files for all poems can be found below.