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Story #2 discussed in George Saunders' A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life.

“I must confess I have seldom heard such a voice �� A warmhearted, truthful Russian soul rang and breathed in it and fairly clutched you by the heart, clutched straight at your Russian heartstrings. The song expanded and went flowing on.��

An unusual little story about a hunter who, visiting a small town of peasants, witnesses a singing contest judged in a local pub.

What makes a Russian story Russian? For me it’s a certain quality, some element of soul, some painful and long-forgotten yearning that gives me as a reader an uncomfortable feeling in my chest that I can’t explain in words.

So really, this story is about that something, that quality, that Russian thing I can’t explain but know when I read it. It surprised me, and will stay with me a long time.