The Golovlyov Family — Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov

Recognized as a classic since its first publication in Russia in 1880, The Golovlyov Family recounts the history of a family of landowners through three generations. Arina Petrovna, matriarch of the estate, maintains strict control of her world -- until the balance of power is upset by her scheming, hypocritical son, whose nickname is "little Judas."

What follows is a disquieting story of isolation and disintegration, in a place reminiscent of the elusive Macondo in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. In this masterful translation "to be preferred at all costs . . . Cioran does have an edge . . . in the closeness to the original as well as sensitivity to telling phrases and expressions"