and opportunity. The opening of the collection adds a brief foreword situating the first two comic tales alongside a later political satire, then launches into Uncle’s Dream. In the provincial town of Mordassoff, Marja Alexandrowna rules by fear and tact, while her amiable but useless husband is exiled to the estate and her celebrated daughter Sina faces whispered scandals. News erupts when the half-ruined Prince K.—a vain, over-cosmeticked relic now controlled by the managing Stepanida Matveyevna—suddenly appears at Marja Alexandrowna’s house after a roadside mishap, brought in by the chatty suitor Mosgljakov. A lively salon scene follows: Mosgljakov recounts the rescue, Sina coolly refuses to commit to his proposal, the addled prince misidentifies people and rambles charmingly, and Mosgljakov provocatively suggests marrying the prince to the clever widow Nastassja—an idea Marja Alexandrowna pointedly shuts down as the chapter closes with comic digressions about servants, ailments, and hydropathic cures. (This is an automatically generated summary.)