The Sun of the Dead

Ivan Shmelev (1873–1950) entered literature as the "artist of the dispossessed" and became the "most Russian" of emigration writers. Expressing the "deep truth" about Russia, he created its purified image, imbued with a higher meaning and faith. In the novella "The Undrinkable Cup" (1919), presented in this edition, a poignant story of a serf artist is told, through whose fate Shmelev reveals the themes of spiritual search, the power of art, and faith. The epic "The Sun of the Dead" (1922) narrates the tragic events of the Civil War. The book brought the author wide European recognition. Stepping beyond the national literature, Shmelev's work gained universal significance; the writer was nominated twice for the Nobel Prize in Literature, and his works have been translated into dozens of languages.