"The Salamander and Other Gothic Tales" contains eight stories which represent the best of Russian Romantic fiction from the first half of the 19th century. These include "The Salamander", "The Cosmorama", and "The Sylph", Odoevsky's three main metaphysical tales. The collection as a whole represents some of the best of the Russian Romantic fiction from the first half of the nineteenth century. This is the first English edition of Odoevsky's work to be published since 1965 and six of the tales are here translated for the first time.The selection, which coincides with the recent revival of interest in him as a leading exponent of Russian Romanticism, displays Odoevsky's Gogolian sense of humour and his interest in social issues as well as highlighting his philosophical approach, drawn from German Romanticism and a wealth of European sources, to themes of the Gothic and the fantastic. Stories of this title include: "New Year"; "The Tale of a Dead Body"; "Belonging to No One Knows Whom"; "The Story of a Cock, a Cat and a Frog"; "The Sylph"; "Letter IV [To Countess Ye. P. Rostopchina]"; "The Live Corpse"; "The Cosmorama"; and, "The Salamander".

V.F. Odoevskii (1804-69) was one of the most original and versatile writers of his generation. Written in 1839 and published the following year, The Cosmorama reflects the author's deep interest in the mystical and the non-rational. It tells tale of a small boy's involvement with a seemingly harmless child's toy which has fateful consequences for him and for those he encounters. During the course of the story the narrator, Vladimir, is transformed from a rational man of the world into an incoherent and isolated wreck, fated apparently to live out the rest of his life in tormented despair. The pathway to doom is marked by a series of seemingly fortuitous but interlinked events of an increasingly grotesque, violent character. Not simply a melodramatic tale, this is in fact an unsettling intellectually challenging story giving rise to a range of philosophical, moral and social issues, including questions about the nature of reality, the conflict between social convention and passionate instinct. This edition contains an introduction, generous notes in English, the text in Russian and a glossary and bibliography.