Known as a middlebrow short-story writer and novelist who wrote on social issues of current interest, Aleksandr Kuprin was one of the most popular writers in early-twentieth-century Russia. His literary talent was oriented toward physical description and easily accessible plot lines. In contrast to many well-known Russian modernists, he was strongly opposed to aesthetically refined or metapoetic literature that reflected on the finer points of poetic art. His works depict a broad range of Russian society. Among his characters are peasants, merchants, and gentry, as well as hunters, boxers, circus workers, students, and prostitutes. His most celebrated novel, Poedinok (1905; translated as The Duel, 1916), dramatizes an officer's life and gives a trenchant critique of the tsarist military system. Kuprin's life was just as interesting as his art. Like his characters, he worked at many occupations, including soldier, journalist, stevedore, boxer, circus rider, forester, bailiff, and pig breeder. He insisted...