Pisemskii in Russian and English, story by story
And novel by novel, play by play. English titles of works are those used by Charles A. Moser in Pisemsky: A Provincial Realist (Cambridge, MA, 1969), except as noted.
Chronological by date of publication. Titles in bold have been translated into English. Bibliography of English translations below. Additions/corrections welcome.
1848
Нина: Эпизод из дневника моего приятеля (Nina: An Episode from My Friend’s Diary)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 4: pp. 264-292
Translated by Maya Jenkins as “Nina” in Nina; The Comic Actor; An Old Man’s Sin (1987)
1850
Тюфяк (The Simpleton)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 2: pp. 5-230
Translated by Ivy Litvinov as The Simpleton (1959)
Other titles: The Lump (Steve Dodson), The Muff (D. S. Mirsky, Maya Jenkins)
1851
Сергей Петрович Хозаров и Мари Ступицына: Брак по страсти (Sergey Petrovich Khozarov and Mari Stupitsyna: A Marriage of Passion)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 5: pp. 5-180
Комик (The Comic Actor)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 2: pp. 231-324
Translated by Maya Jenkins as “The Comic Actor” in Nina; The Comic Actor; An Old Man’s Sin (1987)
1851-1852
Богатый жених (A Rich Fiancé)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 4: pp. 5-263
Other title: A Rich Suitor (Maya Jenkins)
1852
Ипохондрик (The Hypochondriac)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 22: pp. 5-117
M-r Батманов (M. Batmanov)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 3: pp. 100-216
Питерщик (The Petersburger)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 3: pp. 60-99
1853
Раздел (The Division)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 22: pp. 119-185
Леший: Рассказ исправника (The Wood Demon: The Story of a District Police Officer)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 3: pp. 5-59
1854
Фанфарон: Один из наших снобсов (The Braggart: One of Our Snobs)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 3: pp. 217-289
Ветеран и новобранец: Драматический случай из 1854 года (The Veteran and the New Recruit: A Dramatic Incident of 1854)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 23: pp. 5-33
1855
Виновата ли она? (Is She to Blame?) [NB: Виновата ли она? was also the title of a suppressed early version of Боярщина]
ПСС 1895-96 volume 3: pp. 290-393
Плотничья артель: Деревенские записки (The Carpenters’ Guild: Country Notes)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 4: pp. 293-362
Сочинения Н. В. Гоголя, найденные после его смерти: Похождения Чичикова, или Мертвые души, Том второй (Works of N. V. Gogol Found After His Death: Chichikov’s Adventures, or Dead Souls, Volume Two)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 6: pp. 344-374
1856
Очерки из крестьянского быта (Sketches of Peasant Life)
[See Питерщик, Леший, and Плотничья артель]
1857
Старая барыня (The Old Proprietress)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 4: pp. 363-405
Translated in part, possibly by Leo Wiener, as “The Old Proprietress” in Anthology of Russian Literature from the Earliest Period to the Present Time (1903)
Other title: “The Old Lady of the Manor” (Maya Jenkins)
1857-1860
Путевые заметки (Travel Notes) [Moser doesn’t give a collective title]
ПСС 1895-96 volume 6: pp. 108-280
includes
Астрахань (Astrakhan) (ПСС 1895-96 volume 6: pp. 108-130)
Татары (Tatary) (ПСС 1895-96 volume 6: pp. 130-143)
Астраханские армяне (Astrakhan Armenians) (ПСС 1895-96 volume 6: pp. 144-163)
Калмыки (Kalmyki) (ПСС 1895-96 volume 6: pp. 163-207)
Бирючья коса (Biryuchya kosa) [name of an island] (ПСС 1895-96 volume 6: pp. 207-211)
Баку (Baku) (ПСС 1895-96 volume 6: pp. 211-223)
Тюк-Караганский полуостров и Тюленьи острова (The Tyuk-Karagan Peninsula and the Tyulen Islands) (ПСС 1895-96 volume 6: pp. 224-229)
Пребывание черноморских моряков в Москве и прием их Астраханскими жителями (The Sojourn of Some Black Sea Sailors in Moscow and Their Reception by the Residents of Astrakhan) [no title given by Moser] (ПСС 1895-96 volume 6: pp. 229-280)
1858
Боярщина (Boyarshchina) [based on the Виновата ли она? written 1844-46 that was suppressed by the censors] [title is a place name]
ПСС 1895-96 volume 1: pp. 1-211
Тысяча душ (One Thousand Souls)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 7 (parts 1 and 2)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 8 (parts 3 and 4)
Translated by Ivy Litvinov as One Thousand Souls (1958)
1859
Горькая судьбина (A Bitter Fate)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 23: pp. 35-109
Translated by Alice Kagan and George Noyes as “A Bitter Fate” in Masterpieces of the Russian Drama (1933)
1861
Старческий грех: Совершенно романическое приключение (An Old Man’s Sin: A Completely Romantic Adventure)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 5: pp. 181-296
Translated by Maya Jenkins as “An Old Man’s Sin” in Nina; The Comic Actor; An Old Man’s Sin (1987)
Записки Салатушки (Salatushka’s Notes) [feuilletons written with the pseudonym Salatushka, not given a collective title by Moser]
ПСС 1895-96 volume 6: pp. 281-306
1861-1862
Фельетоны Никиты Безрылова (Feuilletons by Nikita Bezrylov) [not given a collective title by Moser]
ПСС 1895-96 volume 6: pp. 317-335
1862
Батька (The Father)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 5: pp. 297-334
Обличительное письмо из ада (An Accusatory Letter from Hell) [no title given by Moser] [publication date not verified]
ПСС 1895-96 volume 6: pp. 307-316
Завещание моим детям: Василию и Николаю (Last Will and Testament to My Children Vasily and Nikolay) [no title given by Moser] [publication date not verified]
ПСС 1895-96 volume 6: pp. 336-343
1863
Взбаламученное море (Troubled Seas)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 9 (parts 1-3)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 10 (parts 4-6)
1865
Русские лгуны (Russian Liars)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 6: pp. 23-107
1867
Самоуправцы (The Unbridled Ones)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 23: pp. 111-181
Other title: Usurpers of the Law (Maya Jenkins)
Поручик Гладков (Lieutenant Gladkov)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 23: pp. 183-262
1868
Бывые соколы (Former Falcons)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 23: pp. 263-317
1869
Люди сороковых годов (Men of the 1840’s)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 11 (parts 1 and 2)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 12 (part 3)
ПСС 1896-96 volume 13 (parts 4 and 5)
Other titles: People of the Forties (R. E. Steussy), Men of the Forties (Maya Jenkins)
1871
В водовороте (In the Whirlpool)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 14 (parts 1 and 2)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 15 (part 3)
Other title: In the Vortex (Maya Jenkins)
1873
Подкопы [=Хищники] (Mines [=The Plunderers]) [this play is connected to Warriors and Temporizers, which was written earlier but banned during Pisemskii’s life]
lib.ru text from Гражданин as Подкопы, in old orthography
lib.ru text as Хищники, in modern orthography
Other title for Хищники: Beasts of Prey (Maya Jenkins)
Ваал (Baal)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 23: pp. 319-417
Translated by Andrew Donskov as “Baal” (1974)
1875
Просвещенное время (An Enlightened Time)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 23: pp. 419-488
Other title: Enlightened Times (Maya Jenkins)
1876
Финансовый гений (The Financial Genius)
in Газета А. Гацука act 1 act 2 act 3 act 4 (links broken)
at the National Electronic Library
1877
Мещане (The Bourgeois)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 20 (parts 1 and 2)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 21 (part 3)
1879
Уже отцветшие цветки: Капитан Рухнев (Faded Flowers: Captain Rukhnev)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 6: pp. 5-22
1880
Масоны (The Masons)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 16 (parts 1 and 2)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 17 (part 3)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 18 (part 4)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 19 (part 5)
1883-1886
Бойцы и выжидатели (Warriors and Temporizers)
apparently written 1864
ПСС 1895-96 volume 24: pp. 133-177
Other title: Fighters and Temporizers (Maya Jenkins)
Милославские и Нарышкины (Miloslavskys and Naryshkins)
written 1866-67
ПСС 1895-96 volume 24: pp. 63-132
Птенцы последнего слета (Fledglings of the Last Flight)
ПСС 1895-96 volume 24: pp. 5-62
Старые счеты [=Семейный омут] (Old Accounts [=A Domestic Pool])
begun in 1877, left incomplete
ПСС 1895-96 volume 24: pp. 195-243
year not yet verified
Матери-соперницы (Rival Mothers [provisional translation of title]) [no title given by Moser]
unfinished historical play in verse
ПСС 1895-96 volume 24: pp. 179-193
Translations by translator’s name with links to WorldCat
Donskov, Andrew, trans. “Baal.” Russian Literature Triquarterly 9 (1974). Reprinted in The Unknown Russian Theater: An Anthology, vol. 1, ed. Michael Green and Jerome Katsell. Ann Arbor: Ardis, 1990.
Jenkins, Maya, trans. and intro. Nina; The Comic Actor; An Old Man’s Sin. Ann Arbor: Ardis, 1987.
Kagan, Alice, and George Noyes, trans. “A Bitter Fate.” In Noyes, ed., Masterpieces of the Russian Drama. New York: D. Appleton, 1933. When Masterpieces was republished in 2 volumes in 1961, “A Bitter Fate” appeared in volume 1.
Litvinov, Ivy, trans. One Thousand Souls. Moscow: Foreign Languages Pub. House, [1958]. Reprinted New York: Grove, 1959.
Litvinov, Ivy, trans. The Simpleton. Moscow: Foreign Languages Pub. House, [1959].
Wiener, Leo, trans. [?]. “The Old Proprietress.” In Wiener, ed., Anthology of Russian Literature from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. New York: Putnam’s Sons, 1903. Vol. 2: pp. 311-319.
Online Russian editions
Pisemskii, A. F. Polnoe sobranie sochinenii. 2nd ed. 24 vols. St. Petersburg: Vol’f, 1895-1896. [Follow links marked ПСС 1895-96. Vols. 1-12 were published in 1895, vols. 13-24 in 1896. Described on the title page as the “second complete posthumous edition, expanded, corrected, and newly checked against the manuscripts.”]
See also Pisemskii’s page on lib.ru, with most of his works and criticism about him in .html format.
Thanks very much for this extraordinarily useful post; it must have taken a lot of work! I particularly appreciate notes like “[title is a place name]” that tell you something you wouldn’t know unless you read the story.
My pleasure! It turned into a challenging game when I tried to find all the vols. of the PSS for myself, and I thought I might as well post the links once I finally had them. I hope there will be more English translations to list someday.