A review by laurareads87
The Narrow Cage and Other Modern Fairy Tales by Vasily Eroshenko

dark funny
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I was delighted to read Vasily Eroshenko's fairy tales, well translated by Adam Kuplowsky, having read a lot previously about anarchist movements globally during his lifetime -- figures I know well like Kropotkin and Goldman are mentioned briefly, and with the excellent introduction about Eroshenko's life I was able to place him and his work in context (and context is, certainly, very important to these stories).  
As for the stories themselves, they are truly fairy tales -- many have talking animals.  They are also certainly of their time: the themes are those of debates and discussions on what might be called the "left" during Eroshenko's lifetime: critiques of organized religion, humans' exploitation of non-human animals, and anarchist critiques of communism and capitalism alike.  I really appreciate Kuplowsky's work bringing these tales to an English-speaking audience, and recommend this collection to anyone interested in fairy tales as well as anyone interested in socialist and anarchist history.
Thank you to Columbia University Press & to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.
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