An anthology that shows how the short-fiction genre evolved in Poland, contains selections belonging to the Polish short-story canon throughout the ages. A variety of Poland's greatest and best-known authors and interesting themes have been chosen. Several of the stories appear here in English for the first time in Oscar Swan's masterful translations; others have been translated by other well-known literary translators of Polish. Prof. Swan's commentaries on the stories give the reader historical context as well as providing insight into linguistic and cultural aspects that might otherwise elude the non-Polish-speaking reader. Appropriate for use as a text in a Polish literature-in-translation course, the book can also serve as a supplementary text for courses on Central European culture or simply as an introduction to Polish culture for the general reader.