Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Stephen Vincent Benét is a classic of American literature, flesh of the flesh of that brightest generation that gave us Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Faulkner. As a master of paradoxically ironic novella, he undoubtedly inherits O. Henry, often using historical, folkloric,... and fantastical plots. Distant or recent past appears to him as a revived realm of imagination. Here on the American frontier, the plots of ancient mythology unfold, Dr. Melhorn continues his medical practice in the underworld, the Chief of the great State exiles the Cursed people down to the last infant, and the last Roman legion leaves the British Isles, to the horror of the colonists... The story "Wailing Wives," opening the collection, served as the basis for the famous film musical by Stanley Donen "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," which was nominated for five Oscars and won one. All works are published in Russian for the first time (except for one story presented in a new translation).