Leo Tolstoy

"In A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, George Saunders guides the reader through seven classic Russian short stories he's been teaching for twenty years as a professor in the prestigious Syracuse University graduate MFA creative writing program. Paired with stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol, these essays are intended for anyone interested in how fiction works and why it's more relevant than ever in these turbulent times. Saunders approaches...

The fates of three souls-- the blundering, good-hearted Pierre; the heroically tragic Prince Andrei; and the radiant, tempestuous Natasha-- collide amid the tumult of the Napoleonic Wars in Russia. The film conjures a sweeping vision of grand balls that glitter with rococo beauty and epic breathtaking battles.

In Tolstoy's powerful tale of family passions set in Russia in the 1870s, Anna, the young and beautiful wife of a powerful older man, risks more than she can imagine when she runs away with the dashing Count Vronsky.