Humorous short story from the time of the tsarist Russia. ( )

This was the first Little Black Classic I've read and I would definitely want to check out more.
As for the story itself, it is a humorous folk tale-ish commentary on Russian culture and its treatment of its craftsmen/artisans, and though I don't really know enough of the context behind it to fully appreciate it, it was interesting enough to read. ( )

Cuando el Zar Alejandro visita Inglaterra acompañado de su fiel general, el cosaco del Don Platov, los ingleses, para impresionarle, le regalan un minúsculo autómata, una máquina prodigiosa, que solo puede ser contemplada si se mira a través de un microscopio: una pulga de acero mecánica, que cuando se le da cuerda, efectúa un danse. Espoleados por el afán de competencia, los rusos se proponen encontrar al artesano que sea capaz de construir una pulga igual, para así demostrar a los ingleses de lo que los rusos son capaces. Hasta que, tras una búsqueda por toda Rusia, aparece «el Zurdo», el prodigiodo artesano bizco de Tula.

Very cute looking, very easy to read. I really love Russian stories and this one didn't disappoint. It read somewhat like an adult fairy tale and was easy to get into. I think I might end up buying the whole collection of Little Black Classics if my other ones prove to be as good as this. ( )

This was the first of the Little Black Classics that I obsessively imported, and both their strength and their weakness is that you are given absolutely no context, but just dropped straight into the story. I spent a bit of time floundering and wondering just what kind of story I'd wandered into, and what was up with those strange word usages, did they skimp on the translator?

Once I got my feet under me, I loved this little story, in all its farcical, tall-tale international intrigue f engineering one-upmanship. Even the odd word usages, once I had a little faith, turned out to be brilliant little very intentional playful moments.

My favorite of the LBCs so far. ( )